


In which two ten year olds manage to save the world and turn the actual living scourge into a dad

by ADyingFlower



Series: Noctis Appreciation Week [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: "how much research do you do for this fic" "too much", Accidental Baby Acquisition, Ardyn Redemption, But less baby and more Ardyn has two kids following him around, Children saving the world through the power of cute, Codependency might have accidentally happened, Crack, Ensemble Cast, Feat. an exasperated secretary who did not sign up for this, Gen, I took lore and ran with it, Is it kidnapping when the kids are liable to kill themselves if unsupervised, Kicking and screaming the whole way, Prompto's a bit of a yandere, Running Away, Subtle Final Fantasy franchise jokes no one but me will get, The FF wikia is now in my recommended thanks guys, The power of friendship is an actual thing, This is incredibly self-indulgent crack and fluff, This is what happens when an angst writer tries to write crack and fluff, Title for the longest time was "Smoll children who don't know what they're doing", Worldbuilding, zero regrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-20 20:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 38,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11928771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADyingFlower/pseuds/ADyingFlower
Summary: Noctis is the paralyzed Crown Prince of Lucis whose only friend is his fox like guardian.Prompto is a child soldier from Niflheim who doesn't want to kill sent to assassinate the Prince.Now the two of them are on a journey to save the world with the help of the twenty four messengers through the power of cute.Also Ardyn's here too. And accidentally acquired the dad feels. Send help.





	1. Of Dreams and New Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: In another life (AU)  
> I'm using Noctis week as an excuse to post this. It's been sitting in my drafts sadly for months now. I have chapters written out I just suffer from lack of confidence I'm sorry. On the brightside, I hope people like this? I did a _shit_ ton of research for this fic, like I have pages in my phone filled out with just possible ideas and lore trivia.

Noctis stopped, his head tilting slightly to the side as his wheelchair slowly grew to a crawl across the marble floors of the Citadel. His guards, who had been flanking him because of his _way_ overprotective father ( _like, geez, he’s practically an adult already, he can wheel his own butt around_ ), also stopped, gazing at him curiously.

“Is there a problem, Your Highness?” The one of his left, a Crownsguard he knew who would just about die laughing at the most awfulness of puns, asked. The ten year old didn’t say anything, his hands slowly tightening on the wheels.

Someone was following them.

Like his dad taught him, he searched out with his magic, but when no comforting buzz came from the direction he could feel eyes from or even the faintest taste of the familiar magic, he knew something was wrong.

“It’s nothing.” He passed off, slowly unclenching his hands and letting himself move forward once more. The intruder was totally listening in, and he really really _really_ liked his guards this time around. They didn’t nag him to do his physical therapy, or make jokes at his expense like _some_ of them did. It would majorly suck to have to get them reassigned because of one silly intruder.

He’s ten, that’s _practically_ an adult. He can take care of himself, with no one to bug him to eat his veggies or brush his teeth or go to bed at an early time because he was the _Prince_.

Noctis let out a sigh. Now he was sad, and this excursion was meant to make him forget that. This stinks.

Luna’s red notebook was warm against his knee, and a sudden urging to return to the garden to get a semblance of comfort from his only friend made his hands twitch with eagerness unbecoming of a Prince ( _as if he couldn’t be human to be a Prince and if he wasn’t human then what was he?_ ).

He was almost outside, almost able to ignore the stalker following them through the halls, almost able to pretend that the guards by his side were Regis and Luna instead, when the first guard dropped like a led balloon.

Well, he didn’t know what a led balloon looked like dropping _personally_ , but he heard the saying and at the moment it fit pretty well.

The second whirled around, only to be pelted in the forehead by a…

Was that a canteen?  

Cold hands gripped the steering part of the wheelchair, pushing him right by the thankfully only unconscious bodies of the guards and past the threshold of the door, directly into the heart of the royal family’s private garden.

“D-Don’t move.” A young shaky voice commanded him, his seat rattling from how hard the boy’s hands were shaking. “I-I don’t want to hurt you, but if I-if I don’t complete the mission I’ll be de-decommissioned so please! I won’t make it hurt, it-it’ll be just like going to sleep, okay?”

Noctis nervously tugged on the Carbuncle charm attached to the notebook, feeling rather than seeing his guardian form by his side. Carbuncle gave a little chirp of happiness, trotting alongside the wheelchair, and Noctis felt himself relax. If Carbuncle liked this newcomer, then so did he. Everything was just fine, Carbuncle was always right when it came to these kind of things. Maybe he should introduce him to Luna.

“What’s your name?” He asked excitably, leaning his neck back to the point where he was half afraid it would snap. A cold hand stopped him, trying to force him to look forward and not at his new friend but hit right in that spot instead. The spot.  

A giggle - not a giggle he’s a man okay! - slipped past before he could stop it, his face instinctively leaning so he was covering his neck with his chin. “That’s ticklish!”

His new friend drew a hesitant breath, the previously recklish drive slowed to a more even crawl across the rocky terrain. Yay, now his butt didn’t have to feel like he was sitting directly on a motor. “Ticklish..? What’s that?”

“It’s when you tickle somebody and it makes them laugh.” Noctis explained as best he could after a moment, which...wasn’t really that good of an explanation. “Want me to tickle you?”

Without waiting for an answer, he swung around in his sweet and dived his hand right towards his new friend’s side. The boy jerked slightly, and then almost inaudibly, helpless giggles were escaping his mouth.

His new friend had messy blonde hair with really weird clothes. As in, covered in blood and grime and who knows what all over the scarred leather that looked about as old as his dad. And his dad was _old_.

“My name’s Noctis, but you can call me Noct. All my friends do!” If friends include Ignis and maybe Gladio, but he wasn’t too sure the older man really saw him as a friend. Or even if Ignis did. _True_ friends wouldn’t make you eat your vegetables.

The blond started, staring at him with his mouth wide open. “I’m...your friend?” He asked breathlessly, his gloved hands releasing the handles to nervously fiddle with themselves.

Noctis nodded. “Of course! Besides, Carbuncle likes you. Carbuncle doesn’t even like _Ignis_ , who’s pretty cool when he’s not feeding me vegetables.”

For the first time, his new friend seemed to notice the fox creature by their ankles. He let out a startled yelp, immediately backpedaling when Carbuncle started to approach him.

Only to rub himself against his shins like a contented cat.

They both stared.

“Huh.” Noctis said. “He doesn’t even do that for me, and he’s my guardian.”

The boy looked up from staring at Carbuncle with wet eyes. “Guardian?” He rasped, and Noctis frowned, grabbing the water bottle in his cup holder and offering it to him. The blond paused for a moment, glancing between the opened water bottle and his face for a few moments before snatching it out of his hands, greedily chugging the drink down.

“Yeah, guardian. My dad gave him to me when I was in a c-o-m-a for a long time.” He explained when it looked like there was no end in sight for his new friend and his water bottle. After a moment of thought, he reached into the small basket on the inside of the seat and pulled out a candy bar, offering it to the other boy, and wasn’t surprised in the least when it was snatched out of his hands and quickly opened.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he made no move to call anybody as he opened it, the other boy watching cautiously but not stopping him. After a moment, he raised his hand so he could read the text message on the screen.

It was just a smiley face emoticon, no sender in sight, and it disappeared when he exited out of the conversation. “That’s Carbuncle. He can’t talk I don't think, but he sends me messages on my phone to talk to me. And in my dreams too! I like Carbuncle. Do you like Carbuncle?”

The blond nodded. “Yeah...I like him.”

And after a moment; “My name’s Prompto, but no one’s supposed to know that, so keep it a secret.”

Noctis smiled, clapping his hands together in glee. “Okay, Prompto!”

Prompto grin was wobbly, but it was a grin nonetheless.

 

* * *

  


“I’m from Niflheim.” Prompto admitted to him later in a whisper, his hand soothingly petting the guardian lying in his lap. “I was sent here to assassinate you. If they receive word I failed, they’ll-they’ll-” He swallowed heavily, bringing his finger up to his mouth to bite at the nail there.

Noctis rubbed his chin, deep in thought of what to do. With his other hand, he heisted his leg a bit to the side so the water wasn’t up to his knees in the small pond water in front of them.

“So what if they don’t find out?” He offered hesitantly, stretching his unresponsive knee. The doctors said he would eventually get the full use of his legs back. _Eventually_ . Everything stinks, his dad is too busy with running the country to see him even once this week, Luna is across the country under watch from the nasties, and he can’t even _walk_ by himself.

Prompto laughed, a nervous hesitant one. “You’re the _crown prince_ , of course people are going to know that I failed. And when I fail, they’ll call me back, and I can’t escape that.”

The idea formed in his head slowly, gradually gaining surface the more he rolled it over. He shared a glance with Carbuncle, and his phone buzzed once, twice.

**Go for it :)**

**I’ll keep you safe!**

“What if they don’t know?” Noctis asked slowly, reaching a hand out to pet Carbuncle’s head. “What if they...think I’m dead?”

“Are you saying…” Prompto’s jaw was dropped, but something like hope was lighting up in his eyes. “We should fake your death?”

Noctis’s grin could have lit up the entire city of Insomnia. “Duh.”

Prompto sputtered. “D-Do you know how hard that will be? We have to somehow get a body- wait just a missing person should work- but how are you going to get out of the capital? And what will you do - I mean, you’re the Crown Prince! Someone needs to rule after your dad dies, right?”

“That’s why.” Noctis hauled his legs out of the way, leaning with the weight of his torso like they taught him in physical therapy in Prompto’s direction. “You’ll come with me.”

A pause. Slowly, Prompto’s mouth began to close as he seriously thought about it. “I-I…”

Noctis idly slipped his fingers into the sand by his waist, letting Prompto take his time even though it was likely someone was going to find two unconscious guards and go _oh where were they assigned_ and then it’ll all blow up and he wouldn’t be allowed to leave his wing of the castle for _weeks_.

“Where would we go?” The blond asked in a small voice, drawing his knees closer to his chest. His boots were discarded by the water and his filthy pants were rolled up to his knees, revealing even more blood and grime under them.

He can still taste the ashes in the air and feel the pain in his spine when he focuses on it.

“Altissia.”

Prompto peeked unsurely over at him. “Why Altissia?”

Noctis shrugged. “Everywhere else there’s solders, but Alitssia’s pretty safe. And I heard it’s pretty this time of year.”

“That’s pretty simple reasoning.” Prompto laughed, but there was a new light in his eyes. “I guess...Altissia it is.”

His own smile was steadily sneaking up on his face. Really, he’s...running away from home, with his would-be assassin. If Ignis were here, he would call him crazy and then promptly confine him to his rooms. If Gladio were here, he would have gotten his ear pulled for not responding properly to danger and more lessons the instant he could walk again.

But neither of them were here. They haven’t been there for him ever since his stupid _stupid_ spine, and Prompto was his friend who needed help. Just the two of them, in the world outside of Insomnia.

He’ll make sure to send his dad a postcard.

A commotion rang out from beside him, and Noctis grimached. Quickly, before he could even react, Prompto was on his feet with his shoes already on, clammy hands grabbing him from under his arms and hoisting him back into his wheelchair, leaving Noctis to blink at the empty air.

“Time to go, Noct.” Prompto grinned at him cheekily, and without any hesitation the two of them practically zoomed off out of the garden, his hands white knuckled from gripping onto the handlebars. Carbuncle squeaked, and his phone rang repeatedly as the smaller summon was forced to keep up with the roller coaster wheelchair.

Astrals above, Prompto should never be in charge of any mobile unit, nevermind one with _parts_. For everyone’s sakes, he hopes the blond never learns how to drive.

The garden streaked past him in greens and blues as the two of them turned around corners faster than he ever imagined he could, the voices grew closer, than distant, and when he blinked Prompto had halted them to a stop near the side wall towards the hallways to the kitchen. Noctis anxiously watched as he leaned toward one of the numerous trees and rummaged around inside the trunk of it, pulling out a black briefcase and setting it on his lap, opening it with an ominous click.

Inside it were several guns neatly arranged, a folder of what looked like identifications, some potions and status effect items, and…costumes?

“First things first.” Prompto said with what he would 100% call an evil grin. “We need to disguise you.”

With that, he pulled out a wig. A _girl’s_ wig.

“No no no absolutely not,” He yelped, trying to backpedal away from the conversation, but Prompto, the sneaky bastard, had already snapped the oiled from the last century breaks into use.

“C’mon, Noct.” Prompto encouraged with a suspicious shine in his voice that told him just how much he was enjoying this. “Everybody around here knows what you look like, and they're already looking for you as it is. They’re going to be looking for a wheelchaired boy with dark hair. What they're not going to be looking for is a girl sleeping on her brother’s back because she got tired during the tour of the Citadel.”

Noctis stared. “That’s mildly terrifying.”

Prompto grinned, with plenty of teeth. “I know.”

He sighed, but he figured Prompto was probably right, though he did make a face at the black skirt he was handed. “Just over your shorts!” Prompto promised, all the while pulling out something he called a wig cap and fitting it over his hair while he struggled pulling his unresponsive legs through the thin fabric.

“This is probably going to itch, fair warning.” Prompto explained, and then without any warning he shoved the wig on his head. Noctis sneezed, irritably brushing away the waxy strands out of his eyes and mouth.

He was right. The wig did itch.

“Now for the wheelchair.” The other boy remarked, eyeing it thoughtfully. “It would be nice to have someway for you to get around without me having to carry you, but then again it’s way too noticeable…”

Both of them shared a look at the gold engravings on the black rims. _Royalty_.

“It’s fine.” Noctis hummed, raising his arms, and as if the other boy had known him his own life he was already there to help him out of his seat and standing him up to lean heavily against his side. “Look at this neat trick.”

In a shower of crystals, the wheelchair dissolved under his touch and into his own special astral space.

“Woah.” Prompto’s jaw dropped, waving his free hand in the air as if to make sure he didn’t just make it invisible. “That’s so cool! How did you do that? Can you do that to my bag too?”

Noctis eagerly nodded, tapping his index finger against the offered briefcase and sliding it neatly into his astral space. Prompto’s expression practically lit up, and he realized that this was the first time someone was ever impressed with the his powers, _his_ powers, not just the ones passed along the Caelum line.

“I have other stuff in there too.” He explained patiently, only wincing the slightest bit as Prompto shifted him around so he could get better access to climbing his back. “Like a couple drinks and sandwiches. I also got my crutches in there too, for when I can start walking again.”

Prompto passed him a curious look over his shoulder, and they steadily began heading towards the general direction of the center of the Citadel. “It’s not permanent?”

It took him a moment, and that’s when he realized it. “My legs...the doctors said I should start being able to feel touch and moving them soon, but they won’t support my weight for a while.” An aching void filled him quietly, and slowly his head began to drop down until his cheek was resting on Prompto’s shoulder. “I’m lucky, really…I could have really paralyzed them, for good. I wouldn’t even be able to go to the bathroom by myself…So, I’m lucky, you see.”

It felt as if he was trying to convince himself more than Prompto.

“I’m your friend,” Prompto whispered to him, and Noctis thought he could feel his hands on the back of his knees, but maybe it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him. “And you're mine. So that means, we’ll be here for each other. That’s what the books say, that friends are always by your side. So...It’s okay to cry if you want. The bosses get mad when I cry, but I’m not one of them. So please… It’s really really okay. I’m here.”

Noctis swallowed heavily, and buried his face into his new friend’s shoulder and let loose the bottled up grief from the past half a year, the comfort of Carbuncle by his side and the future in front of them burning brighter than the sun after being trapped in the dark for so long.

 


	2. Running Away Requires Planning Skills, Who Knew?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two children discover the author's obsession with game lore and meet a bunch of daemons in a trench coat about to be utterly wrecked by cuteness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You would not believe your eyes for how many hours I spent going through game maps trying to make travel hours accurate.

_Leide, Callnegh Steps_

Noctis still felt like he just blinked and they were already escaped Insomnia and out of the cargo bay they hiked a ride in.

“That doesn’t make sense,” He was saying to Prompto, the blond still faithfully giving him a piggy back ride, claiming that the rocky sand wouldn’t give him any purpose to push his wheelchair. “It takes at least forty minutes by car to get out of Insomnia, how did you get out in twenty on foot?”

Prompto threw him a cheerful smile over his shoulder. “A magician never reveals his secrets!”  

He frowned. “But you’re not a magician, I am.”

“We really should do something about that sense of humor of yours.” Prompto teased, practically skipping. He’s been unnaturally happy ever since they managed to sneak past the guards at the Citadel, the ones at the wall, and the Niflheim blockades. He now had a newfound respect for his friend, honestly.

“But it’s true,” He complained - a man, it wasn’t whining! - letting his head fall with a soft ‘thunk’ on his shoulder. The wig was still on him, for reason unknown to him, but at least the skirt was now safely in the astral plane, after it kept making Prompto’s hands loosen the hold on the back of his knees. “I can do magic, so I’m the magician.”

Carbuncle chirped from where he was trotting after him, and he grabbed his phone out of his back pocket when he felt it starting to buzz.

**Speaking of magic**

Noctis furrowed his eyebrows as he gazed down on the message, Prompto slowing as well when he thrust his arm forward so he could read it as well. “What do you think that means?” He asked, shooting Carbuncle a significant look.

Prompto shrugged, looking curious himself. “No clue about that. Maybe -”

Whatever he said was cut off by the soft ‘Kweh’ in front of them

Both boys stumbled to a stop, staring with wide eyes at the creature in front of them. And promptly died.

“Is - is that…” Prompto stuttered, looking utterly enraptured with the animal in front of him. “A _chocobo_?!”

It was. Noctis didn’t even complain when Prompto dropped him straight on his butt to bolt towards the stray _golden perfect beautiful chocobo baby_ -

He might actually be in love.

The chocobo chick let out the most beautiful chirp he has ever heard in his life, and contently nuzzled under Prompto’s open hand. Said boy made a strangled sound and was practically wheezing as the soft most perfect creature ever lightly nipped at his fingers.

“ _I w_ _ould destroy countries for you._ ” Prompto passionately whispered, and he couldn’t agree more.

Noctis dragged himself on his forearms over to the chocobo chick, ignoring the gravel and whatever else scratched up his arms as he stared in wonderment up at the chocobo chick, eyes completely enraptured with the fluffy creature.

**That’s what I meant!**

**That chocobo is yours now, a summon, just like me**

“Carbuncle says the chocobo’s a summon,” He commented to Prompto, who hasn’t once looked away from the chocobo rubbing the underside of its feathers against his fingerless gloves. “So technically it’s another guardian now?”

“Does that mean,” Prompto’s voice was breathless. “We can...keep her?”

Her? Noctis tilted his head to peer under all the feathers, but he didn’t know how to tell the gender of a chocobo so it was kinda a moot point and more of a reflex of watching other people doing it to kitties. “Well, duh.”

“Woohoo! Hell yeah, we got a chocobo!” Prompto cheered loudly, jumping up into the air and fist pumping. Instead of being startled, the chocobo just stared up at the blond with a zen look as it slowly chewed on the glove it managed to pull off Prompto.

Noctis looked over seriously at Prompto, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes that could make a stone cold killer stumble over themselves in deference to its cuteness. “We’ve been blessed by the gods.”

Prompto nodded along. “Should we pray to them?”

“Um…” He tapped his chin. “I don’t know how.”

The blond shrugged, laughing at the chocobo contently chewing on the glove with a glazed over look in its eyes. “Me neither. Maybe like this…?” Prompto leaned down and snatched a stick off the ground, waving it to the clouds above and yelling as loud as he could. “HEY GODS, THANKS FOR THE CHOCOBO!”

“Yikes…” Noctis covered his practically bleeding ears. “Don’t think my dad in Insomnia didn’t hear you, why don’t you try again.”

“Should I?”

“ _No_.”

The chocobo gave a chirp, like to remind them that, yes, it’s still here. Though if Prompto’s guess was any indication, then it might actually be a she. “Maybe we should name her?”

“Hmm, maybe Boco?” Prompto leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees, not noticing Noctis’ envious glance towards how easy the motion was.

Just to spite him, Noctis turned up his chin in the most haughty manner he could fathom (and it was pretty haughty, he had to say so himself) and argued a “I like Boko better.”

Prompto sputtered, staring up at him with wide eyes. “You can’t be serious! Boco is much better, duh.”

“No, Boko.”

“Boco.”

“Boko.”

“Boco.”

“Boco.”

“Boko.”

Noctis received probably the most betrayed look he has ever seen, and he’s broken Ignis’ glasses by accident once. Worst part is? He’s not even remotely guilty.

“Boko it is.” He nodded to himself, and Prompto glared daggers at the back of his head. Bracing himself, he hefted his torso off the ground and flipped himself around so his back was facing the ground once more. Once he was on his butt, then he was able to manually lift each leg and put it in a more comfortable position.

…Comfortable?

“Holy Shiva!” He yelped, patting his legs just to be sure. Nope, he was definitely feeling that.

“Are you okay?” Prompto rushed over to his side, dropping to his knees and placing his cold hands on his bare legs. “Does something hurt?”

Noctis stared in wonder at his legs. “I - I -” He chanced up a glance at Prompto’s watery eyes, and managed a smile so bright it could rival the sun. “I can _feel_ my legs.”

It took him a moment, but when Prompto got it, they shared a grin before breaking down into relieved laughs, their foreheads touching slightly as the leaned close together to breath in a relieved sigh.

“I d-don’t get it but,” He trailed off, staring at his legs in wonder. “I shouldn’t, not for another three months or so, but…”

Carbuncle nuzzled under his hand, climbing himself steadily in his lap and kneading into his thighs and _god’s above he could feel that-_

**Every new summon you obtain strengthens you**

**I woke you out of your coma ^^**

**And now Chocobo made you register touch**

**The more you gather, the stronger you’ll become (^.^)**

**There’s nineteen more to go!**

“Woah,” Prompto breathed, having read the texts from over his shoulder. “That’s pretty metal, dude. Guess we know what we’re doing now.”

Noctis whipped his head around, staring up at him with a desperate look - one of both hope and grief mixed in a collage of emotions. “Are…Are you sure? I mean, we were just going to go hide, but if we do this…”

Prompto waved a hand. “Do you think I care about that? I want my best friend to be able to walk again more than anything else first and foremost.”

Try as he might, he just wasn’t able to stop the waterworks from spilling out. He sniffed, rubbing at his eyes angrily for betraying his usual unperturbed stance on life. What happened to the Prince who could deal with disappointment as easy as breathing?

Gone, like the emptiness in Prompto’s eyes that were now filled with such pure light.

“Let’s go.” He stubbornly warbled out, gently scooting Carbuncle up his front to rest on his shoulders, the guardian taking the moment in stride to curl around his neck like a fuzzy scarf. Boko trailed after them with the softest ‘kweh’, tugging on the hem of Prompto’s filthy pants as the boy hiked Noctis up on his back once more.

“That reminds me,” He commented absently, dropping his head on Prompto’s shoulder after several minutes of walking in silence once the tears had dried up and both of them mutually agreed not to talk about it. “Why were you sent to assassinate me?”

Prompto tensed under him, and Noctis almost took it back before slowly, ever so slowly, he began to speak.

“In Niflheim, things are a bit different. Us MTs are kept incubated until we’re either strong enough to survive the transition or until we’re better suited for a better purpose ” He admitted in a matter of fact voice, tone completely blank.

“And there I was, weak little me with the lowest stats in the whole regime.” Prompto’s voice broke a little, and no matter how tightly Noctis held on to him the shaking only increased.

“I’m sorry Prom…” Noctis nudged his head with his own. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Prompto defended him, but his voice was weak and reedy. “So I was picked. Given basic training and enough supplies to last me a whole year. I was told I needed to become close to you and kill you, because we’re the same age, but the security around you never faltered so I had to take it into my own hands. But I tried, I tried so hard to keep my humanity. I wouldn’t get blood on my hands, I wouldn’t do it. And you came along, and picked the choice right out of my hands.”

Prompto glanced back at him, the sun highlighting his hair a dazzling yellow, and gave a shaky smile with glazed over eyes. “So…Noct, thank you.”

Noctis leaned forward, resting his forehead in the crook of his neck. “You don’t need to thank me, silly. Thank _you_ , for being such a good friend. For being…my friend.”

Prompto hiked him up higher on his back, a new skip in his step as they walked through the sandy deserts. Noctis smiled to himself, glad to have cheered up his friend.

The two of them walked in silence for a few more minutes, before tentative questions tossed back and forth filled the air and laughter of the two children who for once could finally be children. On occasion, Prompto would swipe his thumb under his knees and he would have to bottle up the tears of sheer relief that he could actually feel that.

“I’m glad there aren’t any daemons around.” Prompto commented some time later, during a short stop for the night when Prompto’s arms needed a break. The haven’s blue glow underneath them was comforting to his magic senses, though it made Prompto look rather uncomfortable for some reason. Supplies were scattered around them, from Prompto's bag of suspicious items to the wig he'll happily see disappear in to the arsenal tomorrow morning. “It would make this whole trip a whole lot longer. But at the rate we’re going, we should arrive at Galdin Quay around noon tomorrow if we leave at first light.”

He nodded absently, manually scooting himself forward to stare over the other boys shoulder at the map spread across his lap. In pencil, Prompto had detailed their journey from Insomnia all the way in the corner to where Galdin Quay was supposedly nestled on the beach. From there, it was explained to him, they would take the boat to Altissia, and hopefully find a place to keep their heads down for a while. They were spending the night in a haven labeled “Emmelle Haven” according to the map, right across from some old mines he could see far off in the distance.

Noctis narrowed his eyes at it. It almost felt like when he was close to his dad in the crystal room, but not quite. Far different from the comforting warmth of Carbuncle or even Boko, a much more distant and…lonely, presence. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to go near it.

“It was probably for the best we didn’t stay too long in the first place.” Prompto smoothed his hands over the map, quickly folding it back into the briefcase and letting Noctis fold it away into the astral space. “I mean, someone's going to notice you if we stay too long, especially in such a big city.”

“Still,” There was a tinge of regret in the blond’s voice. “It’s such a beautiful city.”

Noctis held his hand out, and without a word Prompto took it, the sun shining down brightly upon their backs, just the two of them with their animal companions and the vast loneliness of the deserts of Leide.

Galdin Quay was beautiful.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the ocean!” Prompto cheered enthusiastically, dumping him off on the sand right near the water and peeling off his grimy boots. “The airship didn’t have any windows, but man I really missed out!”

Noctis followed, but mid-way he pulled up his shirt and gave it a good sniff. Ugh. They were really in need of an outfit change, Lucis’ royals colors were good and all in central AC, not so much in the depths of summer surrounded by sand for miles on end.

“Here,” Prompto suddenly jumped into his peripheral, already helping him pull of his jacket and shoes. “Wanna splash with me in the water? I checked the boat's schedule, and they aren’t due to come for another hour and a half. We can splash for a bit, and then get some lunch if we’re ever hungry again.”

Boko was already nosediving into the water, somehow magically floating like a swan, feathers not even looking wet in the slightest. Carbuncle was more cautious, instead poking at the water with a paw before carefully treading in the calm waves.

“You sure?” Noctis asked, hands pulling at the loose threads of his shirt. “I mean, it’ll be more fun without me, I would just drag you down.”

There was a moment of silence, but when he looked over his heart stuttered to a stop.

Prompto was _pissed_.

“Don’t you _ever_ ,” He hissed, scarred hands clenching the front of his jacket and shaking him back and forth until his neck arched back like a puppet with its strings cut. “Talk that way about yourself _again_.”

His eyes were liquid golden, swirling and drowning Noctis in their depths. He was drowning, choking on the intensity and fierce protection found within them. Prompto was a soldier through and through, but until that moment he had never realized just how terrifying the blond could be, mouth set into a trembling line showing just the faintest glimmer of a snarl.  

Then it was over, Prompto loosening his hold on him and dropping him back onto the sand, all pleasantries once more and smiling like nothing was wrong, laughing awkwardly at his stupefied face. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you so much,” Prompto apologized, but still went ahead and hooked his arms under his shoulders to heist him up and started waddling to the gentle waves. “But still…”

“Don’t talk that way about yourself again.”

Noctis nodded quickly, wincing slightly as Prompto’s hold on his waist loosened and his ankle collided roughly with the rocks underneath the water. At least he could feel that, so something is better than nothing he figured. And the water was doing wonders for cooling them off, so that was a plus.

They waded (well, more like Prompto half dragged him and he did his best to shuffle along) until they were about roughly waist high, letting him drop down so he was submerged up to his chin in the water.

It was frighteningly disorientating, knowing that he could practically drown at any moment if it weren’t for the grip around his waist keeping him upright. Prompto sent him a reassuring smile, trying his best to assure him that he wouldn’t let him drown.

“Maybe we should get one of those floatie things,” Noctis heard him commenting to the air, lazily dipping his head back into the salt water. “You know, the ones where they wrap around your torso and you have to use your arms to swim. I’m pretty sure with all that upper arm strength of yours you could probably win a competition!”

Noctis snorted, the light mood back once more. “Yeah right, says the person who carried me on their back practically the entire trip from Insomnia to Galdin Quay.”

“That doesn’t count! Besides, you’re super light.”

“Not after several hours straight of carrying me.”

Prompto puffed his chest out, but he was grinning all the same. “Nope, still light! I could carry you all day around and it wouldn’t even wind me.”

“That's not what you said a bit after breakfast.” Noctis retorted, smirking when he got a squawk for his efforts. “Here, let me remind you. ‘Nocttttt, my arms-’”

“Nope! We’re done now!” He yelped, hauling him up and making for the shore. Noctis giggled - though he’d deny it until his dying breath -, letting himself be picked up and dragged away from the water.

“No more ocean?”

“No more ocean. You, missy, are giving me a break and sitting your butt down in your wheelchair.”

“.....So you admit it.”

“Dammit!”

The two of them stepped out of the ocean, Prompto only stopping briefly to grab their shoes and socks, the only dry parts of their clothing. “We should buy some more clothes, but not here. All they sell here are beach clothes, and that’s not going to be fun for anyone.”

“I was thinking the same too,” Noctis said sleepily into his shoulder, the wet clothes clinging uncomfortably to his skin the only reason he was still awake, essentially being rocked to sleep by the even ground he was being carried across. Over Prompto’s shoulder he could see Boko and Carbuncle following them at a much more sedate pace, looking for the world like they were having a conversation between themselves through eye contact and bouncing.

“Don’t go falling asleep on me now.” Prompto laughed, jumping a bit to wake him up. Groggily, he opened his eyes, swatting lazily at the blond much to his delight. “We have to go buy some tickets, and then maybe get some food into you, you skinny bag of sticks.”

“Let me live in peace.” He groaned, letting his head flop back as they ascended the stairs, lifting an arm to summon his wheelchair, thanking the gods that nobody was looking at them. He wasn't sure that people would be able to tell it was a royal Lucis trademark, but, well, better safe than sorry.

Prompto dropped him roughly in the wheelchair with a laugh, grabbing the handles and once more taking them for a joy ride across the planks. He swallowed down the nausea that threatened to verge forth, instead staring at the first of the steps up the docks.

“Prom I don’t know about- MOTHER OF ASTRALS-” Noctis began screaming as soon as his wheelchair began tilting backwards, the front wheels hovering in the air. “I SWEAR TO SHIVA I WILL END YOU - DON’T YOU DARE - PROMPTO - !”

His friend’s laughs rocketed around the dock as he pushed the wheelchair up the stairs, Noctis’ frantic screams the backdrop as the taller boy hiked him straight up those planks of death.

“I hate you,” Noctis muttered, draping over the side of the wheelchair, suddenly exhausted. Get him on the trice damned boat already.

“Don’t hate me yet,” Prompto laughed - he definitely laughed - at him, once more pushing his wheelchair at breakneck speeds. “That wasn’t even close to the last set of stairs, buddy.”

His loud whines were quickly cut off by more screams as he was quickly hoisted over the next set of stairs. Luckily, most of the upcoming ones were just a step or two instead of the first colossal giant of a monstrateries called stairs, but each one still threatened to make him lose his breakfast each time.

“I’m going to kill you in your sleep.” He vowed seriously, much to his driver’s amusement.

“No you won’t.”

“Watch me.”

“Then I’ll just leave you, see how you fare then, huh?” Prompto teased, but Noctis only turned his face almost in slow-motion, pinning him with a positively dead stare.

“Do that, and I will drag my paralyzed butt right after you and _murder you_.”

“Oops, looks like another set of stairs, what a shame.”

“Don’t you even - I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU!”

Thankfully, it was the last set of stairs, though some people were staring at them. Hopefully, it was because of the screaming and not because they recognized him as the Crown Prince because that would probably be A Very Bad Thing.

“Lunch?” Prompto tilted his head, jiggling the gil he had stuffed in his socks. Noctis shook his head, reaching out to Carbuncle and Boko, letting both the furry/feathered animals jump straight into his lap. “Not after that ride up the stairs.”

Prompto pouted at him, steering him towards the ticket booth instead, obviously not hungry after Iggy’s sandwiches either.

“Two tickets to Altissia please!” Prompto cheered, slamming the gil on the table. The ticketer clicked his tongue, eyeing the two of them up and down.

“Aren’t the two of you a little young to be going all the to Altissia by yourselves?” The ticketer furrowed his brows, but took the gil and let the printer slowly print out the two tickets.

Subtly, Prompto moved in front of him, blocking the ticketers view of him. “Nope, sir. Our dad’s going to join us soon.”

The ticketer looked between the two of them, obviously not buying it but either not figuring worth it or didn’t want to, he just handed them the tickets with a lazy ‘have a safe trip’.

Prompto took the cue, already pushing him towards the docks, were already several passengers were waiting with their bags. The boat was already docked, a few stragglers being rushed out the ship with the crew cleaning up after them.

“Handicap!” A crew member shouted, motioning towards the back of the ferry where a ramp was set up. “Handicap right this way!”

“Look at that, Noct.” Prompto laughed as he pushed him in that direction. “Guess being in a wheelchair does do you favors after all.”

“Prom, I’m like 80% sure this doesn’t count as a favor and more like a preemptive measure to stop me from drowning.”

“Po-ta-to po-tat-o.”

The crew member went to motion them aboard when they flashed their tickets at him, before stopping them with a curious look of their faces. “Hey kids, where’s your parents?”

Both of them shot each other panicked looks. Astrals, what do they do? what do they do what do they do what do they do what do they do what do they do -

A flash of a scarf caught his eye, and before Noctis could think better of it he latched onto the coat of the guy behind them. “He’s our dad!” And chanced a glance at the mysterious person who would (hopefully) go along with it.

…..Something churned in his stomach. Something, something was off, making the hairs on his arms practically stand up. But at the same time, he could feel a core of warmth and pure light, something he hasn’t felt since Luna.

“Why yes, dear sir.” An accented voice drawled while placing a hand on the back of his wheelchair ever so casually, and Noctis knew in that moment - excuse the incoming pun - that he was _royally_ screwed. “These are my children, after all.”

“Name?” The crew member asked hesitantly after a moment, but most of his previous concern has dissipated.

The new man tilted his head, giving both boy their first good look at his face and the wide smirk spread across it.

“Ardyn, Ardyn Izunia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Boco
> 
> This is where the Boco/Boko joke came from. So many franchise jokes no one but me will get.
> 
> Prompto's backstory has a bunch of holes, I know, but I swear it's intentional!! More like I wrote this before Episode Prompto came out so I have to scrap his original one and ended up creating a completely convoluted one instead that instead will be revealed slowly and sinisterly. Mwahaha
> 
> Introducing our first glance into yandere!Prompto ~ My love for it may be leaking over.


	3. DAD FEELS ARE AT 10% feat. fights are equal to character growth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the author sneaks in character exposition through fight scenes, a thousand daemons in a trench coat is frustrated with two smoll children, and their pets/supernatural beings are overprotective and might attempt first degree murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A THOUSAND DAEMONS IN A TRENCH COAT ARE ABOUT TO BE FUCKING WRECKED BY DAD FEELS
> 
> Posting early because of hurricane Irma, so the next chapter might be delayed if my power is out for too long, but I'll hope for the best ^^

To say that Ardyn was surprised that the King of Light was in Galdin Quay was like saying that his plan for revenge was _vague_. A vast, gross, understatement.

Staring at the two boys across from him in the bunk they were stuck in for the night, he was seriously considering grabbing the Prince by the scruff of the neck and strangling him. Better yet, tossing him back into Insomnia where he couldn’t stupidly kill himself off on some misplaced field trip.

Better yet, why was some lone MT with the Prince? Try as it might to convince him it was human, no human practically reeked of daemons.

He doesn’t consider himself human, after all.

The three of them were shoved in a bunk for the night, the low hum of the ferry’s machinerie slowly pushing them across the Accordo sea to Altissia. The two of them were talking in hushed voices about him from the bed across from him, as if he couldn’t hear every word that passed from their insignificant mouths.

“Are you sure about this? Maybe we should just find a storage closet to sleep in for the night.” The MT was saying the Prince, blue ringed in red eyes darting between the two of the as it placed a protective arm around his waist.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine Prom.” The Prince assured it, picking up one of his legs so it rested against the bed. Ardyn narrowed his eyes. He heard of the Prince’s assassination attempt, was even there to make sure the boy wasn’t killed off by some random daemon the empire thought fit to try and assassinate him with, but to think that it still affected the boy to this very day? He would have to keep a better eye on that, the final duel would hardly be any satisfaction if the child couldn’t very well fight, could it?

Two animal familiars rested on the floor by their feet, one of them a manifestation of a relationship to the dear Prince charming himself, and the other the wretched guardian of children and dreams. Never mind another one he could feel down in the barrels of the ship, no doubt having been attracted by the sheer amount of Lucian magic in this room.

Hmm. Two lesser Astrals in the same room as the Accursed. The Hexatheon would absolutely _despise_ this, never mind the child form of the King of Light being here with him as well.  

A smirk wormed his way on his face. Oh _this_ , this would be interesting.

“--Mister? Mister, are you there?” He snapped out of his thoughts, staring down at the MT in front of him, who shrunk under his stare.

“Yes?” Ardyn tapped his fingers against his crossed legs, the MT’s eyes being drawn to it like moths to a flame. It didn’t escape his notice that the familiar formed out of...relationships...was clinging to its ankle like a distrustful cat, staring up at him with beady eyes that dared him to make a move against the MT.

He hid a smile behind his hand. Who knew that the King of Light and an MT would end up creating an irreplaceable bond?

“Um…Me and Noct are going to go grab some food, if you want to come with?” The MT asked hesitantly, glancing repeatedly back at the King of Light as if seeking his permission. The King of Light gave a small nod, and almost immediately the MT’s shoulders relaxed minutely.

Interesting. “Why not? Do you require help getting in the wheelchair of yours?” He nodded his head over to said chair.

“I’m good, thank you.” The Prince answered diplomatically, the MT rushing to his side to push the wheelchair towards him. Stiffly, he pushed himself off the bed and into the chair, obviously embarrassed by his disability being pointed out.

“Don’t be ashamed,” He pointed out, perhaps a little sharper than intended.

The Prince raised his head, ears dyed a bright shade of red. “....Ashamed?”

Ardyn pointed to the wheelchair. “That. Being disabled is nothing you can control, so therefore you shouldn’t be embarrassed by it, that’s just pure idiocy.” Some old habits just die a bit hard, and after years of being a healer, those beliefs installed themselves deeper than he bothered uprooting. _Primum non nocere_ , ha. _That_ one was the first to go.

The King of Light stared at him for a couple moments, to the point where he was wondering if he had said something wrong, before a small smile slipped on his face, his eyes glistening with pure happiness and innocent light, a type of dark blue that was reminiscent of crystallized shards.

…Holy mother of Astrals, that was just _unfair_.

He placed a hand over his heart, waving away their concern absently as he did his best to contain his heartbeat back from the rapid pace it was previously at. What power did that Prince possess to make that happen? Must be some latent Lucian magic, or perhaps just an ability given to just the Chosen.

The Prince, much more relaxed now for whatever assurance Ardyn accidentally blessed him with, started wheeling his chair towards the door. The MT followed behind like a dutiful slave it was, even scowling at the doorway when it proved too thin for the Prince to wheel through comfortably.

“I’m starved!” The MT chatted to the Prince as they loaded into the elevator, neither of them noticing one of the fellow riders that was forced to move out of the way when the Prince wheeled in making a face.

Ardyn felt something in his chest, perhaps the remains of the healer that once existed, practically recoil in on itself with pure rage. Without even a fully conscious thought, his own face was mimicking the faded remains of a conscious at the man who dared to be disgusted at his own Crown Prince for having to be courteous.

Honestly, it was like chivalry didn’t exist anymore.

The man shrunk away from him, quickly deciding that getting off at his stop would be to his benefit sooner rather than later, scurrying off like the rodent he was. The healer inside him hummed with contentment, both of their desires clashing quite nicely when it came to the safety and confidence of any one the old healer’s heart bled for.

And, of course, the daemons. Can’t forget about them~

The mess hall granted by the small ship was barely anything at all, the food options vastly limited and all of an unhealthy - and therefore cheap - nutritional level. Still, the two ‘children’, happily grabbed whatever they could on their plates and practically inhaled it in their urge to stuff it down faster.

_Children_

The two guardians remained glaring at him, to the obliviousness of the Prince and the MT. The rest of the passengers failed to notice them, no doubt none of them having any way in capability of magic.

Now whether to pick them up by the scruffs of their necks and drop them off right at dear old Regis’ feet…

“Thanks for the meal!” The MT’s laugh drew his attention away from fantasies of scarring the children (rather lightly if he must say so himself) and leave them for that weak King of theirs to find. “Oh, that reminds me!”

Then the MT turned to him with a wide beaming smile, even grabbing both of his hands in its tiny ones with a laugh. “Thank you for covering for us, back at the port.”

…

Dear _Astrals_ -

“Are you okay mister?” The MT watched him curiously, tugging at his hands. The Prince even deigned to join in, reaching over to him and pulling on the sleeve of his coat. “You’re kinda red.”

“I’m fine.” Ardyn’s voice was strangled as he suffered to gain any kind of composure. “No need to worry for little old me.”

The Prince and the MT traded twin looks of confusion, before shrugging in sync and deciding they had better things to do than deal with a flustered old man. “If you say so….” The MT finally groused out, reluctantly letting go off his hands (Eos damn it why did he feel _bad_ for making the MT disappointed?) and scooting over towards the Prince. “Let’s go explore!”

“I’ll….just be here.” Ardyn said out loud with the tone of a defeated man, sitting down on one of the mess hall benches harshly with his head supported by the back of his hands. “Go. Have fun. Do whatever small menaces do.”

The Prince dared to laugh at him as he was escorted away from the most powerful and ancient being on this planet. “See you later, dad!”

Another chest pain. Ardyn groaned and seriously considered just tossing both of them overboard.

 

“That guy is weird.” Prompto said conversationally.

“Yep.”

The ship rocked beneath them to an uneven tempo, occasionally making Noctis slide the breaks on just for him to catch his breath. Prompto trailed next to him, offering to push him once in awhile when it was evident he was getting tired, but Noctis refused every time. He _got_ this.

Carbuncle chirped anxiously from where he was curled up next to his thigh, and he braked to answer the familiar buzz of his phone.

**Avoid that guy!! He’s bad news (⁎˃ᆺ˂)**

Both of them tilted their heads in sync at the phone. “I didn’t know you could do emoticons.” Noctis said evenly, casting a look at Carbuncle that screamed ‘How long have you been hiding this?’

Another buzz.

**I got bored while you were sleeping (￣ω￣)**

“That answers nothing.”

Carbuncle decided that answering them would be a waste of time and just flipped his tail at him.

Noctis gasped. “Rude!”

Prompto laughed at him. _Laughed_ at him! Even Boko seemed to be laughing at him from Prompto’s arms with her beady little eyes. Noctis huffed angrily, unbraking himself and wheeling forward without once looking at Prompto. Stupid legs, he would have just left him if he could.

“Carbuncle’s funny, isn’t he?” Prompto asked while giggling, skipping to keep pace with his angered wheeling.

“Uh hey, Noct?” Noctis ignored him, continually pushing up deeper and deeper into the ship. Something, something was lingering on the edge of his mind that was bugging him, and the answer was somewhere deep in the ship. And, he was still a bit pissed.

“C’mon Noct, talk to me.” It was itching at him, something was there. He  _knows_ it! But what?

“Please…I didn’t mean it. _Noct_!”

A hand crashed down hard on the bar with a resounding clang, Prompto looming over him with wet eyes and a trembling mouth. “Stop.”

Noctis paused, hands hovering over the bars, mouth agape. “Prompto...I didn’t mean to - to make you upset.”

Prompto’s eyes were hard flecks of ice even as he semi-roughly shoved Noctis over, collapsing in the chair next to him and squeezing the two of them together. “Well, you did.”

“Prompto…”

“Don’t.” Prompto inhaled deeply, and something in his shoulders broke. “Just don’t...don’t do that again. Don’t ignore me. Don’t ever ignore me, okay?”

He nodded easily, linking his fingers with Prompto’s in the too crammed wheelchair. “Sorry for ignoring you, that joke was pretty funny.”

“Nah, sorry for making fun of you. I can tell you were on edge.” Prompto apologized, rolling over so they were no longer hip to hip and rather hip to stomach. “What’s bugging you, buttercup? And don’t wrinkle your nose at me!”

“It’s just…” He trailed off, eyes skittering down the hallway from where he was sure he could taste the residue of tea leaves. “Something, kinda like Carbuncle except less...cotton candy, is down there.”

He got a raised eyebrow for his efforts. “Cotton candy?”

Noctis fiddled with the edges of his shirt nervously. “You know, when Carbuncle floops around or gets all sparkly?” At Prompto’s nod he continued. “Like, it has a scent to it. Carbuncle smells like a carnival, all candy and caramel popcorn. And Boko smells like dirt, but like that really nice dirt in the gardens!”

“That’s so cool!” Prompto took a deep inhale, but only furrowed his eyebrows when he evidently smelled nothing. “I wish I could do that…”

“That’s okay.” He patted his knee, gesturing to where Boko and Carbuncle had settled down by their feet. “They like you - _that_ \- much, because you’re my bestest friend ever and only the coolest person I know.”

Prompto giggled abruptly, scooting closer to him until they were nearly nose to nose. “Thanks Noct, you’re the best.”

Noctis nodded sagely, opening his mouth to say a probably awesome comeback, when a thought occurred to him out of the blue. “Wait, if it smells like Carbuncle and Boko…?”

The other boy finished for him with a wide grin, already darting out of the chair and unbraking him. “Then its another guardian!”

He shared a look with Carbuncle, mentally telling the fox creature to either move it or get run over by Prompto’s crazy driving, and somehow his guardian must have understood it because he has never seen him move so fast in his life, Boko not far behind with her bouncing skip.

“And…” Prompto drew out the sound just to be annoying, propping himself against the handlebars. Noctis latched on with full strength to the armrests, willing himself not to puke. “Let’s go!”

“...Prompto why aren’t we - _AHHHH_ -”

Noctis loudly screamed as Prompto shot off down the hallway, flipping them around a turn so fast he was sure he heard something break. It might have been his spirit.

Then Prompto leaned over to loudly yell. “Lean forward!”

Without questioning, he did what was asked, and nearly screamed again when he felt Prompto push off and _let go._

“When this is over you are literally _dead_ to me! Dead!”

Prompto cackled ominously from somewhere behind him.

Oh Shiva -

He leaned back and grabbed around the wheel, wincing when it clicked against his fingers in his desperate grab for the brake. Finally grabbing onto at least one of them, he yanked on it and let the chair spin almost full perfect circle.

…About two inches before he would have hit the wall.

Noctis collapsed against the backrest, dropping his head dramatically against the top of the seat. “Promptoooooooo!”

The blond boy caught up to him swiftly at a half jog, smiling fondly down at him as he came to a stop right next to him. “But it was funny, right?”

He sighed, but he was smiling all the same. “Yes, it was funny. But don’t do it again, I almost died!”

“I do what I want,” Prompto sing-songed, skipping off down the hallway and forcing Noctis to quickly follow behind. “Now where’s this guardian…?”

Noctis narrowed his eyes down the hall, pointing at one of the doors that was slightly ajarred. “Over there.”

Prompto didn’t even bother with opening the door the normal way, instead kicking it open dramatically. Considering the fact he was wearing steel toed boots and probably had super strength (in Noct’s opinion, anyhow), the door slammed open, giving them a brief glance of the inside of the boiler room, before bouncing against the adjacent wall and shutting with the definite sound of a lock clicking.

Both of them blinked in sync. “Well...That didn’t go as I thought it would.”

“No dibs.”

A laugh, sharp and sweet, wind rushing in his ears. Noctis breathed in deeply, smelling the unfamiliar scent of metal and...flowers?

“HOLY SHIVA -” Prompto’s startled scream broke him out of his thoughts, eyes blinking rapidly at the small creature hovering right in front of his face.

Noctis held out his hands slowly, smiling softly when the creature settled down in his cupped hands lightly. “Hi there, I’m Noct, it’s nice to meet you.”

The creature almost looked like a fairy out of the storybooks, with butterfly wings and long silver hair. They were about the height as the side of his hand, all tiny hands and feet with giant, pure black eyes. Other than the, you know, wings and lack of irises, they almost looked like a tiny human.

They didn’t respond, but his phone in his pocket buzzed. Prompto leaned over in the corner of his peripheral and unlocked his phone for him, reading out loud for his benefit. “This is a sylph - some kind of happy emoticon that involves a lot of flowers -  they seem to like you!”

Noctis squinted at the small sylph, bringing his hands closer to his face to observe them. “But do you have a name?”

There was a considering pause, and then his phone buzzed again. “Sylphs don’t have individual - give me a sec this word is hard - ident - ident - identities! They are just one in a million.”

He frowned.

“That’s not right,” He commented almost absently, uncurling one hand to pet their hair ever so gently. Deep from their chest, what sounded almost like a cat’s purr sounded out and they happily nuzzled into his finger. “I mean, they have thoughts and feelings like everyone else, right? Us humans are a one in a million too.”

Prompto’s voice sounded strangled when he spoke next. “Right.”

Noctis leaned back to face Prompto with a small smile, bringing up the hand holding the sylph so the blond could get a better eyeful of their new friend. “C’mon, you can have the honors of naming them.”

“Me?” Prompto pointed at himself. Noctis smiled with a nod, and finally, the other boy scooted closer to admire the sylph.

“I….” He fidgeted with his sleeves, occasionally peeking up to watch them, who seemed content with occasionally batting their wings or brushing their hair into pigtails before remembering they had nothing to tie it up with. “Are you sure?”

“One thousand and five percent sure.”

“....I…Uh…okay.” Prompto nervously reached out, hesitating for a drawn out moment, before brushing the top of their hair lightly. The purr was almost immediate, drawing a hesitant smile to Prompto’s face and a gleeful one to Noct’s. “How about...Cecilia?”

Noct titled his head. “Like Queen Cecilia?”

“Not Lucian, remember?”

The newly named Cecilia spun around slightly in his hand, hovering above his palm before taking off in a zoom around their heads, all the while giggling.

“Queen Cecilia is the Queen of musicians.” Noctis started humming a tune under his breath briefly, letting the notes fade into air. “She died, like they all do.”

Prompto laughed, but it was rather off key and broken. “Noct, that’s a weird thing to say.”

“Is it?” He shrugged. “All the Kings and Queens of Lucis, all of them in the end die. The Wall kills them, if the people don’t do it first.”

And with that, he let the three guardians settle comfortably around his lap and wheeled away.

 

Ardyn stared at the new guardian contently perched on the Prince’s shoulder, eyeing him with evident mistrust. Dear Etro, even the normally tamed guardian of dreams was raring to bite his fingers off.

The newest guardian, a sylph if he believes so? The newest guardian full out _hissed_ at him, and the brief scent of flowers drifted through the room before it was washed away, the MT left good as new while Ardyn wore a few licks to his health.

 _Whispering Wind_ , ah how he despised that attack. So much like the ring he once proudly wore, to take and take and take from their enemies until they collapsed into themselves while the user was healed of all wounds. Fiesty little daemons.

One guardian was a fact. Two were coincidences. Three?

Oh, he was going to _kill_ Carbuncle. There was no one else who could convince stupid, idiotic, _gullible_ , children who were going to brutally kill themselves trying to do whatever it was the stupid hopeful guardian wanted to accomplish.

The fox daemon was always a little too attached to the Caelum family.

~~Ardyn had many fond memories of his childhood running through the palace gardens, his mother’s voice beckoning him to be careful while the fox guardian playfully running away from him.~~

The MT didn’t even notice its lack of wounds (idiot, how did it think it was going to get the Prince around if it had an infected stab wound, even if it was minor), too focused on the intensity in the air. The cabin was too small for the three of them, meant for two small children and not two small children with a tag along adult.

The Prince was scooted up against the headboard, gently petting the fox daemon lazily stretched across his lap. The feathered one was settled by his feet, being pet with a soft chirping noises every so often by the MT.

At least they were sitting and being relatively calm. Ardyn lost about a year's worth of his paycheck compensating for the damages done to the hallway when they apparently decided that all the cupcakes on display in the mess hall were such a lovely shade of blue they deserved to be the new wallpaper.

The ship’s staff did not appreciate that.

Nevermind what they did to the water fountain (dumping what appeared to be an entire embassy’s amount of pennies into it), or the men’s staff bathroom (drawing mustaches on every mirror), or the staff’s personal kitchen (trading food around in the brown bags so everyone had a different meal), or the bow of the ship (reenacting a scene from a famous movie he’s never seen that involved a lot of screaming about roses), or sneaking their way into the crow’s nest (with poorly taped pirate eyepatches and even poorer accents to match), or the captain’s quarters (proceeded to reenact another scene from a different movie with pirates and frankly terrifying siren songs).

Ardyn hasn’t been this tired in a _millennium_.  

Now the two of them looked thoroughly tired out, covered in cupcake blue and marker smudges all over their faces, and a greater man would have insisted they take a bath or at least wash up before passing out.

He doesn’t even consider himself a person most days, so that was out of consideration.

With a quiet flop, the Prince’s head finally lost the struggle against sleep as he finally conked out, his hand stilling its lazy pet of the fox guardian. The MT barely managed to get to its feet to pull the blanket over the Prince before collapsing next to him over the covers, already fast asleep.

Ardyn couldn’t help the tsk, standing up before he even realized it and shedding his jacket, gently laying it on top of the sleeping MT. What use to the Prince was an ill MT?

Looking at the two of them, something reminiscent of the old healer stirred in his chest.

It was...It was…

_Cute_

Ardyn had barely a moment to realize the fact that _holy fucking shit why are the Prince and a lost MT look ‘cute’ when sleeping what even is cute cute is just an adjective but is it also an emotion? A heart condition? Because something in his chest is squeezing what is this -_

And that’s, of course, when the screaming starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Primum non nocere - Do no harm
> 
> Sylphs: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sylph
> 
> Their main attack is that they do wind damage to enemies, and use the amount of damage done to heal the summoner + party. Whispering wind is its name. 
> 
> Name: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sheila
> 
> Sheila is actually rooted from the name Cecilia, which after a bit of research is actually the Christianity patron saint of musicians. So this is actually a reference within a reference. That's like, sixteen reference
> 
> I just made another references. Someone stop me. 
> 
> So sorry not sorry for the cliffhangar~ 
> 
> (In case you didn't get it, the two movies Noct and Prompto were acting as were Titanic and Pirates of the Caribbean)


	4. WE'RE AT 30% PEOPLE and outfit change montage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the author's friend suggested bad weather as a bonding exercise so they took it as an excuse to pull traumatizing the smoll children out of their quantum space pocket and some foreshadowing occurs because the author is weak to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER KICKED MY BUTT 
> 
> Honestly, hurricane Irma knocked out my power until yesterday, so I had to write this in basically one day. Probably didn't help. Other than that, I am A-OK and back to making Ardyn suffer.

“I’m scared.”

It was barely a whisper, hardly a thought. The ship groaned beneath them, and someone whimpered.

“This is really, really scary.”

Carbuncle nuzzled under his hand almost sadly, sadly thrumming through the scent of cotton candy and caramel apples.

“I - I don’t like this…”

Something cracked above them, and a scream died abruptly halfway in his throat.

An arm came around his shoulder, sliding in between him and Prompto easily. Noctis let himself be pulled into Ardyn’s side, his head sliding onto his shoulders. “It’s alright,” Ardyn hushed both of them, and for the first time he noticed that the strange man wasn’t wearing the really flowy jacket that made him bat at it every time the man walked by (not that he noticed it).

Glancing around for it, he finally noticed it wrapped around Prompto’s waist. A smile crept over his face; guess the old man is a softy after all.

The smile slid off when the ship rocked once more, the wheelchair toppling over on its side as items were thrown off the bedside table onto the floor, Prompto’s muffled shrieking as something creaked dangerously.

“M-Mister…” His voice shook, desperately clinging to Ardyn’s sleeve. “What’s going on…?”

“We must have hit a rough patch of water,” Ardyn was staring off into the distance, his eyebrows furrowing the slightest bit that made Noct’s stomach swoop uncomfortably. “Though I don’t quite understand, the waters should be rather calm this time of year.”

Prompto choked weakly, and Ardyn’s arms only tightened around the both of them. Noctis reached out over the old man’s lap then, and a small hand decorated in strange callouses met him halfway.

Then he heard it.

A hissing sound, the smell of rot and spoiled milk washing over him like cold water. Cecillia flinched boldly under the newest scent and retreated into his hair, tiny hands clenching the strands as they buried underneath the relative safety. Both Carbuncle and Boko sniffed the air, fur and feathers alike standing on end once the smell registered. Even Prompto looked disturbed to an extent, although it was only in the twist of the mouth.

Ardyn hissed, a long, drawn out rumble that had everyone in the room stiffening. “ _Daemons._ ”

There was another alarming creak around them, and Ardyn decided enough was enough.

“We’re leaving.” The words tumbled over each other, sloshing together like water in a pail, on the verge of being tossed out the door. “You,” Ardyn gestured to Prompto impatiently, already standing up and slinging his coat back over his shoulders. “Carry the chocobo. And you, dissolve the wheelchair already.”

Wait - how did - a secret! -

“Now!”

He jumped into movement, slinging his torso across the bed at breakneck speeds to the swaying of the boat and brushing his fingers across one of its rims, letting a sigh of relief escape him when the wheelchair dematerialized right in front of his eyes. Ardyn waited no time in scooping him up from the bed, Noctis’ head tucking neatly against his shoulder and Carbuncle hopping into his arms.

“Hold onto the chocobo tightly now and use the other hand to hold onto my coat.” Ardyn instructed Prompto carefully, juggling Noctis to get a better grip on him. Noctis slung an arm around Ardyn’s neck, the other cradling Carbuncle carefully against his chest. “Let’s see about getting onto the deck, but stay out of the way of the sailors. If you find a life jacket, tell me and let me put it on you, understood?”

Both of them nodded, wilting under the stern look he had turned on them. Then the door was opened, and all hell broke loose.

People were streaming up and down the hallways in a mass panic, most of them still in their pajamas and stumbling through in a sleep-driven sense of fear. While Prompto and Noctis visibly paled at the amount of people packed through the hallways like sardines, Ardyn just shouldered his way through them with a grim face.

The smell of rotting milk was only getting stronger the more they stumbled, no sense of direction as they wandered aimlessly in what they hoped was up. Sometime in it, Noctis felt himself boosted up so Ardyn held him with one hand in an almost sitting position, both arms wrapped around his neck with Carbuncle curled like a scarf around his own. Prompto followed behind dutifully, his hand having slid from holding onto his sleeve until he had gripped Ardyn’s pinkie with steel determination.

Something made a large cracking sound from behind, and then they were running through the hallways, Prompto tripping over his heels as they dashed frantically around corners and up stairs, Cecillia squeaking in his ear -

“ _Water_ \- !” Someone’s screaming, and he might be shrieking too -

Then there’s water underneath their feet and Prompto’s crying out, and he can see it in slow motion, it's Luna all over again and the smoke is strangling him slowly, Prompto’s hand slowly being tugged from Ardyn’s and - ( _Luna’s hand letting go of his father’s and_ -)

~~please~~

Noctis lunged over Ardyn’s shoulder, hand outstretched, and yet only one word bursts out of him beyond his control.

“ _Fira_!”

Steam filled the hallways rapidly, but the screams quieted down. There was no more water. Good. His head was so heavy...

Ardyn was staring at him in absolute wonder, mouth agape as his eyes flicked between his slightly too warm hand and his face. “That shouldn’t be...without a magic flask…” But Noctis didn’t stay awake to hear the rest of it, body succumbing to the sleep it so obviously needed that it whacked him out with a frying pan.

 

_He’s scrambling, he’s running, he can’t stop moving. People and daemons alike were shrieking, screaming, dying. Something exploded behind him, and all he did was cover his head and keep sprinting, blood dripping down his leg and his wrist bruised a deep black._

_“Prompto!” He screamed, jolting to a halt near one of the half destroyed balconies, spotting the other boy down below shooting with a stolen Magitek gun, finally slamming the butt of it over the daemon’s head and meeting Noctis’ gaze as it dissolved into ash behind him, blond hair streaked with brown and scarf lost to the fire raging around them._

_“Noct!” There was no time for hesitation, not with the buzzing in his brain and the warmth in his chest. Jumping up on the railing, he barely had time to glance at the burning landscape before launching himself off the wooden planks, Prompto’s panicked gaze among the rubble of was once Gralea._

 

“You’re awake!”

Noctis was only able to process those words when he blearily opened his eyes before seventy something pounds of pure scrappy determination smashed him into a pancake.

“...Hi Prom,” He eventually wheezed out when he realized the human mass of tentacles wasn’t going to remove himself from his person. “Missed you too.”

Prompto sat up finally, giving him a look that was half glee, half anger mixed with pain. “You’ve been asleep _forever_! And by forever I mean like ten hours. Do you know how long that is? Wait, don’t answer that. We’re in the ship office ticket sale place whatever infirmary, in case you were wondering. You fell asleep on Mister Ardyn’s shoulder, by the way, after doing magic! You steamed all the water away, and they were able to fix the leak. Then Mister Ardyn talked to himself for a while, and all the daemons went away -”

He blinked. “The who and the what now.”

“I thought that if I didn’t want my lungs ripped out through my nose, I shouldn’t ask. Turned out ‘dad’ is probably a daemon…?”

Noctis tapped his chin, finally getting a good look in the room he was in. A lot of white that reminded him of the doctors room back in the Citadel, which probably isn’t too far off considering they _are_ in an infirmary after all.

“Did Mister Ardyn…” He trailed off, eyes fixated on the ‘why your child should be vaccinated’ sign. “Bring me here?”

The blond nodded. “Yep, carried you here and payed for the stay, even tucked you in. He left a while ago though, said he had business to ‘take care of’ and to just call him when you woke up to check you out. See, look at how shiny it is!” Prompto flashed him the new phone, even decorated with a cute chocobo key chain.

So…Ardyn was probably a daemon, but also pretty nice…? Gasp, maybe he’s a King daemon! Like in the storybook, maybe he was cursed to be a daemon for being a jerkface but now he’s trying to become human again!

When he voiced this to Prompto, both of them bounced on the beds like they were little kids - which they totally weren’t! “Dude, that’s so cool! Now we gotta add that to the list of things to do!”

Noctis held out his fingers and started counting. “Well, besides making Ardyn human again, we gotta find the twenty one guardians - speaking of, where is Carbuncle?”

In his first look around the room, something had tickled his mind, but now that he really thought about it, he realized that Carbuncle wasn’t anywhere around. Neither was Boko. Or Cecillia.

Prompto visibly hesitated, and Noctis summoned Luna’s notebook.

Carbuncle’s charm was still there and warm to the touch, to his overpowering relief. Tightening his hold on it, he sent a mental prayer out to whatever void his guardian sometimes disappeared into.

There was a chirp, and then there was Carbuncle appearing in a cloud of blue, nuzzling his face with a soft purr.

“If you had listened,” Prompto pouted exaggeratedly, even crossing his arms. “I was going to say they all dissapeared when you passed out, but Mister Ardyn told me that your magic probably got too tired to keep all three of them around. Apparently, keeping them around with us instead of wherever they came from makes you tired. Like in the video games!”

Noctis nodded, but privately he thought it was like his dad swords, but maybe a bit slower and less kill-y. But still! He managed to keep all three of them for what felt like forever! So maybe he should just take breaks, maybe during naps (ew) or when they’re exploring town.

“I wonder how Mister Ardyn found out that I’m the Prince…” Noctis asked absently, petting Carbuncle with a little smile playing around his mouth. The fox guardian nudged at his hand for a moment longer, allowing his nerves to settle, before he relaxed his frantic hold on the cotton candy and let Carbuncle go back to wherever Boko and Cecillia where.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s a fan of royalty?” Prompto shrugged, flaunting him a grin when he peeked over at him. The blond boy typed a sequence of numbers in, presumably to summon Ardyn so they could finally leave this place. While the bed was a lot comfier than the ship’s for sure, everything smelled kinda funny and vaguely burned his nose.

Prompto set the shiny new phone down on the bed, both of them anxiously staring at the contact ‘weird dude with a fedora’ contact being called on speaker.

“ _Izunia, at your_ humble _service_.”

“Hi dad!” Prompto cheerfully answered with a totally not malicious grin at the strangled sound it produced. “Just letting you know Noct’s awake.”

“Hi!”

“Noct said hi.”

There was a moment's pause. “ _The phone is on speaker, my dear child, I heard him quite fine._ ”

Prompto deflated the tiniest bit. “Oh.”

“ _I'_ _ll come by to pick you up in a few minutes, I was already in the area._ ” Prompto mouthed ‘teleporting’ at Noctis, but he wasn’t sure whether Prompto was genuinely joking around or if he seriously thought Ardyn could teleport.

Considering Ardyn was possibly maybe kinda definitely some kind of King from the storybooks cursed as a daemon for the rest of time, that probably wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“Okay dad!” Prompto was all cheer and sunshine again, smiling smugly to himself for getting the last win in as the dial tone abruptly rang out through the infirmary room. “That was fun.”

Noct sent him a confused glance. “Why do you keep calling him dad, real question?”

“Hmm,” Prompto was smiling again, if a bit sadly. Shutting the phone off, he eyed it for a moment longer before sliding it back into filthy pocket. “I guess it’s because…All my life, there were people that came along and treated me like I didn’t deserve to exist. But then you came along, with your crazy magical powers and guardians, and then Ardyn pretended to be our dad and…”

Prompto’ fingers intertwined neatly, but it did little to disguise the shaking. “It’s like I have a _family_.”

“Oh, Prompto…”

Noctis had struggled out from underneath the blankets and had toppled into Prompto’s lap before the other boy could even blink, clutching onto him like he would fade away at any moment. “You’re my _best_ friend, and we're a family, I swear. We’re gonna find all of these guardians, make Ardyn a human again, and then I’m gonna take you home when I’m strong and no one will be able to hurt you again, got it?!”

Prompto blinked repeatedly, his eyes having a suspicious damp sheen to them. “I...Thank you, Noct.”

He smiled at Prompto, leaning forward and bumping their foreheads together gently and holding it there for several seconds. “No need to thank me dummy. Let’s just get stronger together, okay?”

It took a moment, but Prompto minutely nodded against him.

Distantly, he could hear Ardyn’s voice down the hallways talking to what he guessed was the doctor. The two of them separated with a laugh (totally not sounding like a giggle, nope), both of them working to sit him back up on the bed literally thirty seconds before the door was swung open.

Ardyn greeted them with a tired sigh and dark bags under his eyes, a wheelchair already being kicked into the room in front of him. “I checked you out and did the liberty of paying for your bill, which the price of is personally ridiculous since all these doctors did was check your temperature and then let you sleep off your exhaustion.”

Swooping into the room, Ardyn gently nudged Prompto aside and slid a hand under Noctis’ knees, easily lifting him in the air much like earlier in the mass induced panic on the ship and dropping him in the chair. “You better get used to it.” Ardyn told him with a wry grin. “Altissia is the opposite of a handicap accessible city, despite my frequent complaints about it, so you’ll be finding yourself carried around quite a bit.”

Noctis had a feeling he was being mocked somehow, to his disgruntlement.

Then it hit him.

“Okay,” He chirped happily, smiling up at Ardyn’s suspicious expression. “ _Dad_.”

Prompto snorted from somewhere behind him.

“We’re _leaving_.” Ardyn finally spat out, his face almost as red as his hair. “Just. We’re going,”

Both of their laughs echoed down the hallway as Ardyn dragged both of them out of the infirmary and into the bright sunshine of Altissia.

“Woah…” Prompto trailed off, body pressed against the railing as he gazed down over the bay, the sun shining off the colorful houses and glinting off the blue water. Sailboats peeked occasionally through the endless curtain of turquoise water, the low honk of ships passing through the harbor. Near them, a clothesline languishly followed the breeze, the hum of a foreign language hovering on the edges of his senses, as sharp as the scent of salt water and spices.

“Woah is right.” Noctis agreed, forearms braced on the top of the rail with his chin resting on them. “I could sit here all day. Except, I’m kinda hungry and while I don’t like baths my clothes feel a little weird.”

Prompto paused, reaching over to his own shirt and lifting it up to take a sniff. After a moment, he just silently dropped his shirt with no comment besides a disgusted face.

“Yes, that is one of things that we have to do.” Ardyn commented, digging through his jacket for something or another. While he was distracted, Prompto reached over and batted at the jacket tail with a stifled laugh.

Noctis geeked out into his hand, sharing a conspiring glance with the other boy as he joined in, both of them doing their best to appear normal when Ardyn glanced over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised.

The instant he turned around, Prompto was already there, hand darting out to prod the coat tail. Then it was his turn to yank at it.

“I’m not deaf, you know.” Ardyn divulged, stopping both of them in their tracks. “I can hear both of you trying not to laugh clear as day.”

“Lies and slander.” Prompto even put a hand over his heart for the display, giving the saddest puppy eyes Noct has ever seen. “Right, dad?”

Ardyn made a strangled noise, and then that was that.

“So what’s on the list?” Noctis hummed later, leaning back from Ardyn’s grip to have eye contact. They were going up some stairs again, and Ardyn was not kidding when he said it was not handicap friendly. At this point, he’s been carried easily three times as often as he was allowed to wheel himself around or have one of them push him.

“Clothing store.” Ardyn grunted, readjusting his grip. Prompto had offered numerous times to take over in carrying him, but the old man was committed to the logic (in a lot more words) that Prompto was clumsy and carrying sixty something pounds up the stairs was not a good idea when said person is clumsy. “Both of you reek and those clothing have enough rips and stains to suggest a no small battle.”

“Ugh.” Both of the younger boys blurted at the same time, Noct even going limp in his hold. “ _Shopping_.”

“I can easily leave the two of you on the streets, you know.”

“Shutting up now.”

Ardyn let out a little chortle as they reached the top of the stairs, dropping him back in the wheelchair he summoned and taking control of pushing him through the labyrinth maze of a city. Seriously, if Ardyn didn’t have some freaky knowledge of the streets and its shortcuts they would have been hopelessly lost and probably contained to one small area for the rest of eternity while the area across the water proceeded to mock them.

“This store has good quality clothing.” Ardyn snickered to himself as Prompto obligatory held the door open for them, barely managing to navigate the rented wheelchair through the door and towards the children’s rack. “Pick whatever you want. Quite seriously, my bank account has no limits, just…try to match?”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

Ardyn swerved his head almost completely around to pin Prompto the look™. “What did you say, my dear?”

Prompto practically squeaked. “Nothing!”

“I thought as much.” Ardyn handed the credit/debt/source of limitless wealth card to Prompto with a shark smile. “I will be over there, just yell if you require assistance.”

Both of them waited until Ardyn was far out of earshot before snorting in sync. “Of course he would go over to the hats, he has to fulfill his quota of being a creeper.” Prompto grinned, bouncing over to him and pushing him over to the small selection. With a pout, he enviously peeked over to where Prompto was happily picking through the medium section while singing some song under his breath.

Flipping through the shirts, he either decided his royal upbringing screwed him for commoner clothing or the clothes here really did suck. By the face Prompto was making over to his side, he was going to guess it was the latter and not the former.

“I’m gonna find some better ones over there,” Prompto pointed over at the side of the store he had mentally dubbed ‘really expensive’ and therefore felt the overpowering urge to shop only there. “I’ll be right back.”

Noct nodded unsurely, going back to flipping through the clothing racks. He paused over a cute chocobo shirt with a motivational quote in comic sans font. Tilting his head, he considered if a Prince of Lucis should ever wear something like this.

Ah. Who cares?

Tossing the shirt next to him, he glanced up when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Prompto was skipping towards him with a smile, a black bag already stuffed to the brim. “C’mon!” Prompto giggled, urging him towards the changing room.

He followed, but as soon as they were locked in the same stall and the contents of the bag were revealed, he regretted every moment of his life approaching this.

It was a yukata, a short one. A girl’s one.

“I’m not a girl!” Noct crossed his arms angrily, even puffing his cheeks. “Why do you keep putting me in girl clothes?”

Prompto blinked, and for the first time he realized the other boy was honestly confused. “Because they’re pretty and you’re pretty, so won’t it be extra pretty combined?”

He…had nothing to say to that past some kind of half mangled gibberish.

“Try it on at least?” Prompto pleaded, splaying the clothes against himself though they were a size or two too small, to Noct’s frustration.

It was a dark blue, highlighted with the occasional yellow goldfish design that peaked out beneath the folds of the fabric near the bottom. It even came with an obi and a haori, the former being a dark purple while the latter was black, at the very least.

They were girl clothes...but they were really cute…

“Fine,” He finally gave in, reaching out for the clothes. “Just this once!”

Prompto didn’t say anything, but his grin was enough.

When he put them on, he watched near silently as Prompto adjusted the retractable dressing room mirror and saw his eyes widen in his reflection.

He…did look really pretty. The yukata came to mid-thigh, so he still wore his shorts and sneakers from the Citadel. When he moved his arms, the long sleeves flapped with it in a way that reminded him of a bird, in a kinda cool way.

Noctis…really liked it.

“I’ll get it.” He finally groused out when Prompto’s expectant look became too much. “Only - ! Only if you let me buy you an outfit though!”

Prompto’s grin eerily reminded him of a shark, which in turn reminded him of Ardyn, and that made him question how much time they spent together in the ten hours he had been asleep. “You have a deal, Mr. Caelum.”

He made a face. “Ew, no. That’s my dad, not me.”

After changing out of the yukata and handing the bag to Prompto to pay for it with the magic card, he pushed himself back into his wheelchair and wheeled himself out of the changing room and back towards the kids section.

Flipping through the medium section, he wiggled in his seat at the thought of buying Prompto something. That’s what friends did, right? Buy each other stuff?

His face hurt from smiling so hard, and it hurt even more when he found the coolest outfit, ever. No way would it fit him or even make him look as awesome, but on Prompto…

 

“C’mon, what did you buy me?”

Noctis grinned to himself, refusing to answer the question as the two of them wandered over to where Ardyn was yelling at someone over the phone. Several bags were piled around his lap and even encroaching onto it, filled to the brim with different clothes from cool cosplay outfits to pajamas. Of course, they only picked the _coolest_ pajamas.

“‘I’ve told you time and time again, I am on vacation and would rather prefer to not be called during my free time, you managed how many years before me? You can manage two weeks, you fuc-” Ardyn caught sight of them and quickly shut his mouth, the half finished word hanging in the air. “You know what? I’ll call you back. _When I go back to work_.”

Ardyn abruptly hung up, shoving the phone back in his pocket and turning to face them. “You’re finished? Good. Unfortunately, work decided that it wanted to summon me back to probably torture me, so I won’t be able to escort you to the apartment.”

Prompto tugged on his coat, a pout pulling at his mouth. “You're leaving?”

Noctis, of course, have stronger priorities. “The apartment?”

“Yes, I have to leave. Now don’t pull that face, when next we meet it’ll be across the seas. And yes, an apartment. Out of the goodness of my heart I am letting you stay at a vacation home of mine, don’t burn the building down if you could.” Ardyn patted Prompto’s head with a snicker, and a hot rod of jealousy ran through Noctis. Without even thinking about it, he scooted his chair closer, staring up beseechingly at the old man.

The possible daemon king paused for a moment, looking torn, before finally settling on some kind of conclusion and patting both of their heads.

“Can I stop now?” Ardyn finally asked after several blissed out minutes, but Prompto let out a noise that sounded almost disturbingly exactly like a starving Behemoth tearing into a fresh meat that Ardyn fell back into immediate terrified silence.

After countless minutes, Noctis finally felt like his head pat quota for the day had been filled and reluctantly drew away. Prompto followed his lead after several more moments (probably more like minutes), but Noct couldn’t blame him. Head pats were only second to cuddles, and he had a feeling he would need to get Mister grumpy pants to soften up before he could get cuddles. Kinda like Ignis.

“If you’re leaving, I want your scarf.” Prompto held his hand out expectedly. “So I know you’ll come back.”

There was another moment of hesitation, but shorter this time. Slowly, Ardyn reached for his own neck and untangled his scarf, plopping it loosely around Prompto’s neck.

Prompto smiled into the scarf, pulling it up higher and tucking his chin into it. Noctis had a feeling that Ardyn wouldn't be getting that scarf back, and by the pained expression on Ardyn’s face, neither was he.

“Where’s the apartment?” He asked loudly, disturbing the strangely sentimental moment. Wordlessly, Ardyn opened up a small fold-able map from one of those many pockets in the best coat ever and handed it to him, the front side up already having a red circle drawn on it. Peering at it, he managed to make out that it was pretty north of the city, near the giant imposing castle in the distance but still next to one of the waterways.

Ardyn then handed them a set of keys and a thin playing card. “Here, you’ll be needing this.”

Both of them tilted their heads at it in confusion. The keys had a little tag on the end of it with the address written in fancy lettering that he wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually Ardyn’s and the endless source of money card while the card displayed a silver sword with a red handle.

“Ragnarok…” Noctis read out loud, holding the card to the light. It was…a guardian? It definitely smelled like Carbuncle, if a bit more like like metal and tea leaves.

“I’m sure you’ll find that useful someday, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.” Ardyn smirked at them, even giving a theatrical bow. And totally fell on his butt when both of them leaned forward to forehead bump him, working on some kind of telepathic signal that only worked when it came to causing trouble or... yeah that's it causing trouble.

“Ahem.” His face was as red as his hair again. “I...will see you. Someday. Across the seas, yes. Goodbye.”

And with that, he rushed off down the streets trying his best to look like he wasn’t running, but he was definitely running.

Altissia, meet ten year old Noctis and Prompto. Eos have mercy it survives by the end of the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Possible Regis POV... maybe. 
> 
> Oh, who else lives in Altissia that knew the royal family personally? ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )
> 
> If you're interested, I spent way too many hours of research on where they would stay ^^ file:///C:/Users/azmar/Pictures/FFXV_Altissia_Map%202.jpg
> 
> That should hopefully work...? 
> 
> Ragnarok: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ragnarok_(Final_Fantasy_VI)
> 
> Also! I created a discord server for FFXV ! https://discord.gg/DgMN6e6 Feel free to check it out! Or not, haha


	5. Dear God, how many POV shifts are there?!?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which two children stun the world with their adorableness and the author's love for yanderes peaks through, Ardyn is still suffering, and Cor's POV is here to glimpse the madness that is the CROWN PRINCE GOING MISSING

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS STORY HAS BEEN KICKING ME AROUND LATELY GOD THIS WAS AWFUL TO WRITE. HOPEFULLY IT CAME OUT HALF DECENT AFTER PUTTING ME THROUGH THE WRINGER

“OW OW I HATE YOU SO MUCH OW -”

“It’s not that bad -”

“YES IT IS THAT BAD ARE YOU TRYING TO RIP MY SPINE OUT OR SOMETHING!?”

“Just one more time, and you’ll be good, I promise!”

Noct sent him such a nasty glare that if Prompto wasn’t used to it by now, he would have been on his knees begging for forgiveness. As it was, he just smiled cheerfully and wrapped the belt back around Noct’s waist.

The apartment Mister Ardyn had given them was bright with sunlight, reflecting off the brick walls and casting the room a shade of red he was sure Noct would know the exact answer too.

Right next to the wide windows that faced over the river with their own boat docked were a set of twin bars around waist level, with something Noct called “ew gym mats” spread over the floor. The two of them were hobbling between the bars, each of Noct’s hands braced on the metal and taking hesitant step after hesitant step. Occasionally, his back would jerk weirdly and he would almost lose his balance, but that’s the belt they found in Mister Ardyn’s closet for, since last time he didn’t catch Noct soon enough and they had to push off physical therapy for awhile until Prompto finished bandaging his skinned knee and forcibly feeding him ice cream until the tears stopped.

Cecillia and Ragnarok really helped a whole bunch when it came to Noct’s legs. Carbuncle said the other day that if they gathered one or two more, Noct should be back to full strength. Of course, magic didn’t fix all problems, like relearning how to walk, but it did make the nerves heal a whole lot faster.

That, the two of them would have to do on their own.

“Shiva’s stick on a carrot kebab…” Noct was muttering to himself as he managed another half step, sweat dripping down his brow and probably forcing them to take another bubble bath, another new thing he had learned.

Bubble baths were fun.

“You’re almost there!” He encouraged cheerfully, tightening the belt to straighten up his spine, ignoring his pained wince. Mister Ardyn had told him (grudgingly, over the phone and at some ungodly hour of the morning, and that’s how he learned what time zones were) that he needed to push and keep pushing Noct’s limits for him to get better, and Mister Ardyn was usually right.

Except for the leg stretches. He had assumed that Noct was a lot more limber than he was after months in a wheelchair, and had practically heard a tear when he went to bend the knee against his chest. Noct cried for a solid twenty four minutes and thirty three seconds before he had began to calm down, and neither of them attempted that again.

Glancing down, he stiffled the laugh that wanted to burst out of him at his new outfit, one Noct had gifted him specifically. It was a white sweatshirt with just long enough sleeves for him to hide his finger into and a blue overall top over it. It certainly made his eyes wince when it was paired with the orange cargo shorts that Noct so adored but was too small for, making Prompto oddly feel (but not wrongly) that Noct was living vicariously through him.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have any sturdy enough boots in his size, and his old ones had a sole missing, so he just toughed it out and bought the next closest one to his size. Three times larger. 

Personally, it wasn't quite his outfit tastes (not like he had that many to begin with), but because Noct bought if for him... 

Prompto ducked his face and smiled into Mister Ardyn's scarf shyly. It would be great for the whole family to be together again.

Noct sounded off another curse that sounded suspiciously like “carrots with mold on them” before Noct's phone started beeping several times consecutively.

“I can swear if I like, I’m an adult!” Noct yelled at the thin air, not even looking up from his feet.

The phone buzzed again.

“Does it look like I care what the legal age is?”

Again.

“Blegh.” Prompto glanced over curiously, wondering what that sound was, only to see Noct with his tongue sticking out towards presumably where Carbuncle was watching them.

Catching his confused look, Noct’s expression softened in a way that really only happened during moments like these, tucked away in secret from prying eyes and where both of them could be children, not what they really were.

At this point, Prompto didn’t even have to ask. Noct was already explaining what he was doing, like he had the million times before to all of the million questions curious eyes had picked beforehand.

Sometimes, he felt guilty for hogging Noct to himself like this when he was such a wonderful person. But the thought was usually dispersed with the smallest of hugs or tickle fights that reminded him that Noct liked him too. Noct needed him just like he needed Noct.

If…anyone ever hurt Noct, he’s not sure what he would do. He promised himself to never hurt anyone, not even after what the lady in white told him to do.

But - if they hurt Noct, he couldn’t say without any doubts that he wouldn’t hurt them too.  

His wrist with the barcode burned, but he couldn’t scratch it. If he dropped the belt, Noct would go tumbling over and onto his butt with a puffed expression that usually led to an hour long debate on starting it over again and ending it with hurt feelings and both of them blurting their apologies at the same time.

Emotions were complicated, but for Noct he would keep trying. Noct liked it when he was smiling and happy, so he tried to keep his thoughts happy. Focus on the here with Mister Ardyn’s apartment, the dust motes drifting through the air, the river chugging slowly outside the window, Noct’s heaving breaths as they finally reached the end of the poles and into the waiting wheelchair, which he collapsed into happily.

“You’re making progress!” Prompto laughed, even clapping his hands to it. Noct smiled tiredly, because yes, they were. Two days ago he couldn’t even make it a couple of steps before collapsing to the ground when his legs just gave out on him.

He’ll be walking on his own in no time, Prompto thought with a stab of something ugly. Noct won’t need him then, will he?

No, he’ll still need him, Prompto reassured himself. Physical therapy takes a while, and someone needs to make sure he eats some veggies now and again.

And he can always -

“You okay?” Noct asked him abruptly, breaking that dangerous train of thought.

Prompto swallowed thickly, watching Noct scoot over so he could sit next to him, which he did. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Noct watched him for another moment with an unreadable expression, before reaching over and taking his hand in his. His hands were soft, unblemished by callouses from weapons or labor.

“If you say so, but I’m always here, okay?”

_Always here_

“...yeah. Thanks.”

Prompto tugged on Mister Ardyn’s scarf with a half smile. Ah, that’s right. Noct and Mister Ardyn couldn’t leave him, he both had something that they needed. Speaking of Mister Ardyn...

“I wonder how Mister Ardyn’s doing?”  Prompto asked Noctis, changing the subject into an easier subject easily, and both of them spent a minute staring at each other before shrugging in sync. “Wanna get some frozen yogurt?”

 

Viera tolerated her job.

In the empire, there wasn’t such a thing as liking your job, unless you were vicious sociopath and enjoyed torturing people, then Niflheim was the right place for you!

But there were a lucky few that had tolerable jobs, that usually had an godawful pay but still were tolerable.

Her boss was…eccentric, to say the least, but he never slapped her ass or commented on her breast side, so she dealt with it as it came and just focused on petty revenge of the dismay on his face when she dumped a load of paperwork on his desk.

Currently though…

“Sir is…everything…alright?”

Mr. Izunia, the chancellor of Niflheim and said eccentric boss in question, muttered a ‘no’ into the pile of unsigned papers on his desk.

Considering Mr. Izunia had no sense of professional boundaries, he just nudged the open flip phone towards her in a silent gesture of save me.

Viera tolerated her job, she really did. But honestly - some days.

Picking up the phone, she spotted what appeared to be picture of two children smiling at the camera, two bowls of frozen yogurt in their hands and a chocobo lying in between them. It was cute, she had to admit, and even cuter the caption of ‘morning dad!’ with just the right amount of heart emojis.

“I didn’t know you had children.” She finally managed to say, peering at the picture more closely. Now that she was looking, she could see the blond one was definitely wearing her boss’ scarf like a trophy. The darker haired one - she could have sworn she had seen him before, though.

Mr. Izunia made a sound into his desk that would have been more recognizable on a dying cat. “I don’t.”

Viera glanced doubtfully between the phone and her boss. “Are you sure?”

Her boss elected to make another unintelligible sound into the desk.

 

The Altissian marketplace was even more hectic on a Sunday.

Noctis leaned forward in his chair to peer around the crowd of people bustling around the stalls. At this point he was highly tempted to just have Prompto carry him, pride be damned, because their pace was as slow as molasses with all the people having to make room for him to pass by.

He didn’t say anything though. Prompto’s been in kinda of a weird mood ever since they settled down in Altissia, really clingy and oddly defensive. It’s been getting better though, so he kept his concerns to himself and just offered more cuddles than usual.

Even so…this has been the happiest he’s been in over a year. Before his nursemaid, before the trip that ruined his legs, before the crushing weight of the hall of portraits and his father’s sad face every time that he looked up at the picture of the tale of the Chosen.

Carbuncle nuzzled under his ear with a croon, a gentle reminder he wasn’t alone. Boko was perched in his lap, occasionally giving a chirp each time he scratched just the right spot, her butt wiggling never failing to draw a smile to his face. Cecilia was nestled in his hair as usual, singing some strange song in the old Lucian language that calmed his nerves. Ragnarok was taped to the last page of Luna’s notebook, thrumming odly in what he would even call protective everytime his mood dipped, ready for a moment’s call to action to protect him from harm.

Prompto’s voice in his ear, the press of his fingers into the nape of his neck when he wanted his attention, his smile that he hid behind his hand or Ardyn’s scarf, his laugh that always seemed to break out of him against his will. He wasn’t alone anymore, and he wouldn’t ever be again.

They were passing by a restaurant, crowds of people lingering around a table in particular. Sharing a confused glance with Prompto, the blond wheeled him closer to the table, which he realized held a radio, just in time to hear the faint conversation.

“ _Last week, ten year old Crown Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum went missing from his home in the Citadel, all clues pointing to a political kidnapping, No one else was harmed in the attack, and the King is still looking for suspects. At this time, his royal majesty Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII would like to advise citizens to remain calm and to call the Kingsglaive hotline for any sightings of the Prince.”_

“Damn Imperials.” A gruff man close to them muttered into his pipe, and Noctis has never been more thankful that his dad had a ban against putting his photos in the news. “The poor boy is already probably dead.”

Said poor boy was most definitely _not_ dead, but he kept his mouth shut as Prompto sneakily backed the wheelchair away, before almost sprinting away from the radio and down the walkway towards relative safety. Noctis didn’t even complain about the reckless driving, no sirree.

“You put the wig on me again and I shove Ragnarok up your butt.” He hissed at Prompto, his heart still pounding way too hard to be comfortable. Prompto’s eyes were a little wild eyed around the edges

“But -”

“ _No buts_!”

Noctis glared, but lightened up when he saw that Prompto was still internally panicking. “Hey, lets finish up exploring, and then we can head back to the apartment and spend as much time as you want inside, okay?”

He could practically see all the calculations running through Prompto’s head, strings of possibilities like the way his eyes darted to all the exits every time they settled in a room or how Noctis ignored the gun tucked under his sweatshirt.

Prompto wouldn’t hurt him. He knew it like he knew the outfit he bought Prompto was worn near everyday, like how Ardyn’s scarf was hand washed and wrapped around his neck.

“Fine.” Prompto finally groused out. “But is there someway you can send a message to the King that you aren’t dead?”

A slow, terrifying grin spread across Noct’s face.

 

The Citadel had been a mess for days.

Ever since their Crown Prince had gone missing, the entire city had been in an uproar. Citizens have been stifling under the iron grip authorities held Insomnia in, rights all but stripped from them as Kingsglaive and Crownsguard alike tore the city apart in search of the Prince. Once wall surveillance came back with all the identification papers who would have passed through them in the past week, Cor hadn’t slept for nearly three days as him and his team of handpicked Crownsguards worked through the massive files.

Finally, they hit their big break when one identity check failed to pass the second stage.

“Prompto Argentum and Sarah Argentum.” Cor read out loud, looking at the surveillance pictures. Prompto’s face, the male, was perfectly in view for the majority of the shots. A blond haired, blue eyed Niflheim refugee from Insomnia who was going to go see his extended family in Lestallum with his younger sister.

It would all make sense, if the extended family actually existed and said ‘sister’ had any identification on her. Forgot to pack it just this once, dear officer, can his baby sister please go through with him?

He was a child, and the officers let them through without a hint of suspicion.

Sarah’s face was hidden in most of the photographs, buried into Prompto’s shoulders as he carried her through interrogation. It’s only when Prompto puts her down briefly to pull out his identification that he sees the awkward way she splays on the chair, legs at an angle that would surely be uncomfortable but that she made no move to fix.

She peered up then, a little to the right of the camera’s view at what Cor would presume to be a poster through her long hair, and facial recognition ID has her at a 96% match with heir apparent Noctis Lucis Caelum.

Regis’ expression was pinched when he handed the files over, and the furrow in his eyebrows only grew as his eyes skimmed over the information, resulting in an expression Cor has never seen before on his King. Pure fury.

“He didn’t seem to put up any sort of a struggle, even a hidden one.” Cor offered in a vain attempt at comfort, wanting to offer some sort of comfort to his liege. “Noctis must have gone voluntarily, there were plenty of opportunities to flag for help.”

“That damn well doesn’t mean anything.” Regis slammed his hands on the table, and for the first time he noticed that Regis’ eyes were damp. “Any number of absent minded threats would have kept his mouth shut, his own safety be damned.”

Cor didn’t know what to say to that, because it was true. The Prince had always been a little too soft-hearted than any of them were comfortable with.

Just when he thought that, there was a ruby light briefly flashing near the end of the table, and Cor had the sword halfway drawn before he recognized the fox like animal.

Prince Noctis’ messenger, Carbuncle.

The animal trotted towards them, a note of some kind in its mouth. Regis slowly opened his clenched hands toward them, eyes prayed in reverence and hope.

“Is that…” Cor trailed off, staring at the postcard in Regis’ hand, picturing the scenic Lestallum. Noctis was posing in the picture taped to the back of it happily, a peace sign thrown up with a smile and dried chocolate around his mouth. “The Prince’s _handwriting_?!”

Sure enough, there was a messy print near the bottom of the card that Cor intimately recognized.

_Hey dad! Wanted to let you know I’m doing good and that I’m not dead like the news want to say! You probably think I’m being forced to write this and blah blah blah, but I promise I’m not. Hmm…like your favorite color is blue! See, no captor would have me write /that/. So I’m fine, relearning how to walk and all that jazz. I want the next time you see me be on my own feet without help, okie?_

_Love, Noct._

“Regis…?”

The King neglected to respond, his face buried into Carbuncle’s fur. The normally violently protective guardian to anyone who wasn’t Noctis was docile as can be, letting Regis collect himself in private.

“All these etiquette lessons,” Regis murmured, but it was both heartbroken and so, so happy. “And yet his handwriting is still atrocious.”

 

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re petty?”

Noctis didn’t even bother to look up from the clothes rack he was browsing through. “All the time.”

There was the taste of leafy vegetables in his mouth and tart fruit. Prompto and him have been scouring half the city following the taste of magic, and after walking through the same street four times trying to track it, both of them decided to call it an afternoon and browse the shops before grabbing dinner and going home, where Prompto would probably lock both of them in for a couple of days until the worse of his anxiety passed. Thank Shiva the apartment came with pre-bought kid movies, he had been admiring “The Sorceress’s Knight” for a while now, but movies weren’t fun unless you were watching them with someone else and his dad had been busy.

Now that he thought about it…

“If my dad is dad, than is Ardyn also dad or something else?” He spun in his chair so he could see Prompto’s face, both of them thinking very hard about this. Unseen to them, the shopkeeper in front of them awed and vowed to give them a discount if they bought anything from her.

“One of them has to be papa.” Prompto nodded his head resolutely, and a high five was made at the genius idea. “We should call and ask what he likes more.”

Since both of them were little shits, they had to immediately call Ardyn.

“Hey dad!” Prompto cheered, both of them ignoring the familiar wheeze it caused. “Do you prefer dad or papa?”

The dial tone range immediately back at them, to Prompto’s displeasure and Noct’s utmost pleasure for accomplishing his pain-in-the-butt tally for the day.

“He turned off his phone…” Prompto pouted, reluctantly putting his phone away after several attempts of ‘this phone is not in service’.  

“Video call him tomorrow and use those baby eyes of yours to make him give us an emergency number. No, not those baby eyes, _those_ ones.”

Something glinted in the corner of his eye, and he turned his head just in time to watch the light reflecting off the key chain.

Cotton candy, he reminded himself as he asked the shopkeeper how much it was. Cactuar, his phone read.

“For you sweetie,” She plucked the keytrain he pointed to and slipped it into a brown bag. “Half off.”

He easily handed the number of gil over, tucking the brown bag that held the guardian into his side. Taking a closer look, besides for the clothes he was looking through earlier and various charms and figures, there was an old analog camera tucked into the corner, half hidden behind some children’s toys.

He wanted these memories to last forever.

“That too.” Noctis held out the hefty sum of gil required for the old camera, but blinked when the shopkeeper handed half of back to him.

“Half off.” The shopkeeper repeated with a sharp grin.

Noctis paused for a few moments, basking in the unsure kindness before he hesitantly nodded his thanks. “That’s…nice, really.”

The shopkeeper leaned over the the table and pinched his cheek, something he thought only existed in fiction and story books. “Any time, sweetcheeks.”

He stuffed the camera into the same brown bag, smiling unsurely at the kind, strange lady before backing up to join Prompto once more, who was still glaring at his phone and angrily typing out another message.

“Let’s go get dinner.” The dark haired boy finally managed to say, still touched by stranger’s kindness. It was almost…motherly.

He doesn’t remember his own mother. He knows the slope of his nose and the way his mouth quirks to the left when he smiles is from her, that her portrait is hung over in the hall of the Lucii, that sometimes his father looks at him and sees someone else staring back at her.

Prompto stared at him for a moment, and then slowly reached out to grab his hand. “Yeah, let’s grab dinner.”

  
  


 

 

 

“Mr. Izunia, sir, I really feel obligated to tell you that you’ve been laying like this for going on six hours, sir.”

Mr. Izunia honked into the ground, from where he had given up on groaning his utter despair into the desk and had moved to faceplating the cheap carpet after another phonecall from what she presumed to be his children.

Viera had less of a feeling that her boss had adopted the two kids and more of the two kids had adopted _him_.

“Why do they keep calling me and torturing me?” Her boss bemoaned into the ground. "Dad was hard enough, but Papa?"

There was another strangled sound, and this was _way_ above her pay grade.

“Maybe they’re lonely, sir.”

The dark skinned woman regretted saying that immediately, watching with dim horror as her boss stiffened and squirmed to his feet that would have every bone in her body broken if she tried, and she can do the splits with ease.

“Miss Feol.” Mr. Izunia practically purred, drawing the name out and making her wonder if she should file a sexual harassment lawsuit, though fat load of good that would do. “I require your services in assuring their fears of abandonment. What, pray tell, do children like these days?”

She blinked. “Uh, you mean as in presents, sir? My little cousins like stuffed animals, if that helps.”

Mr. Izunia clicked his fingers. “You’ve been an absolute dear, why thank you. Lend me your help in one last task, and order around...forty is a good number of stuffed animals, is it not?”

Oh Astrals, what did she get herself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Viera
> 
> Haha, I was looking for Russian names to give to Ardyn's secretary, and then the name Viera popped up, which is also a race in Final Fantasy. She's actually pretty grown on me, very much a down to Earth lady who doesn't take no bull. 
> 
> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Cactuar
> 
> Oooh, there's our briefly glimpsed guardian! I mean, where else did you get the final charm piece for Talcott than Altissia ^^ 
> 
> Better hope you like Altissia, since these kiddos are parking their butts here for a couple of chapters. Noct too long though, I have plans. Mwahaha.


	6. It's so fluffy -

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ardyn is actually crying, Noctis is a tsundere, Prompto is too precious for this world, the author had a mental breakdown, and Boko is just here for the fun of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I am _so_ sorry. I just... long story short, I had a mental breakdown, stopped writing anything serious for a long time and basically went through a bit of a depressive stint. On the upside, I am here and posting once more. Updates probably won't be weekly anymore, but from here on out they will be quicker.

Noctis stared at the mound of stuffed animals.

The mound of stuffed animals stared back.

“How _many_ are there?!” Prompto said, his face overtaken with awe. He lifts the paw of the stuffed animal closest to him - an anak calf - before slowly lowering it back down again.

He tried to whistle, but since he didn’t know how so he could only make a thin wheezy sound. Eh, good enough. “No idea, but I’m like 80% sure I know who sent them.”

Prompto’s entire face brightened up, one hand digging through his pocket for his phone while the other tried to nudge the gigantic mass of stuffed animals back so he could steal a pillow off the bed, both of them giving up any weak pretenses that they haven’t been having a slumber party every night and yet falling asleep at eight o’clock on the dot like some sort of invisible timer hanging over their heads.

“Well, I think it's 92%.” Prompto boasted, flipping open the phone with two keychains on it, the chocobo charm Ardyn bought him and the Cactuar one. It felt…wrong, to attach the keychain to Luna’s notebook with Carbuncle, because that was _Carbuncle’s_ space. So he gave him to Prompto, who seemed more than happy to add more charms to the phone. He senses a trend incoming.

Ardyn picked up after one ring, to both of theirs (on Noctis’ side was a bit disgruntled though, just saying) delight. “ _Yes, children?_ ” Noctis had never heard a man sound so defeated in his life.

“Aww, I missed the whole ‘Izunia’ thingy, it’s so funny!” Prompto pouted into the receiver, even slumping a little bit. Noctis made room expectantly in his chair, and Prompto dived next to him in .5 seconds.

“ _It’s come to the point where you call me once an hour, I could very well block you, you know._ ”

“No you won’t!” Noctis chimed in with a bystander would call a sinister grin. “Isn’t that right, _papa_?”

A moment of silence, and then the screaming started. Noctis leaned back in his chair like an evil warlord, smile on his face akin to the sun rising over the horizon, slow and beautiful. Both of them sat in for a good five minutes listening to the vast array of cacophony, from what sounded like a woman shrieking to even a miniature explosion at some point. Once, he heard someone scream a “ _Setting everything on fire is not the answers to your problems!_ ” before it went back to mayhem.

Finally, Ardyn came back on the phone, coughing slightly. “ _Call me papa one more time and I will-_ ”

“Papa.”

There was a defeated thump that made Noctis think that Ardyn had just let his head lose its fight with gravity. That’s okay, his head does that too sometimes when he’s sleepy.

“ _What do you want, you hell spawns?_ ”

“Your attention, 24/7.” Noctis stated bluntly, and heard a sigh from the other end of the phone. “But also your Moogleflix account is password locked, and we want to watch _The Sorceress’s Knight_.”

Ardyn sighed once more, long and world-weary. “ _It’s…oh dear, I see. The password has a few…explicit words in it. I was rather frustrated with the technology, you understand._ ”

Noctis looked in between the phone in Prompto’s hand and the TV several times. “It's not that hard, really. Even Prom got it, and it's his first time with fun technology, not killy stuff."

Prompto mouthed ‘killy stuff’ while Ardyn finally graced them with an answer. “ _I am quite a bit older than everyone in that damn city combined, you daemon spawn. You know what? Fine, fine, you win._ ”

There was a distinct crackling sound over Ardyn’s end of the phone, and then both of them jumped when three knocks reverberated not only in their apartment, but also through the _phone_.

Prompto cautiously got to his feet, his hand hovering over the gun Noctis knew the taller boy carried with him everywhere they went, even decorating the bedside table when they eventually passed out. It was all for nothing though, when the door eventually swung open, and Ardyn stared at all of them (including the minimum two guardians chilling around, which were currently Cecillia and Boko) with the most put upon expression Noctis has ever seen a person wear.

“See!” Prompto was the first to speak, slapping a hand against Noctis’ arm. “He _can_ teleport!”

 

Two hours and forty minutes later, Noctis stared unblinkingly at the credits rolling past. Prompto was full blown sobbing into Ardyn’s shoulder next to him and even Ardyn was blinking very rapidly in a distinct way old people did to disguise the fact that they wanted to cry.

“I-I can’t believe they - she just died!” Prompto wailed into Ardyn’s very expensive coat, who didn’t look like he cared one bit that it was getting covered in salt and snot. Noctis kept his eyes peeled open, but something in him was slowly cracking apart inside him at the sound of the blond’s sobs. At one especially violent sob, he finally let out a little sniffle.

Ardyn’s head turned so fast he was sure anyone else’s neck would have snapped. “ _Don’t you dare._ ”

It was too late. In a span of just a few seconds, Noctis started bawling.

“A-and Sir Ze-Zefer he just - he just wanted -”

“The - the d-dragon -”

Both of them blubbered helplessly into Ardyn’s sleeves, neither of them noticing how Ardyn kept his eyes fixed on the TV screen with extreme prejudice.

“Children,” Ardyn said, extremely deliberately. “If you don’t stop crying, I’m going to start crying, and I haven’t cried in at least a millennium. If I’m going to cry again, it is not going to be for a stupid _children’s_ movie.”

Slowly, the both of them leaned back from either side of the older man they kinda kidnapped and forced to watch a movie with them.

“Are you okay, Mister Ardyn?”

“No, I am not okay.” Ardyn looked like he was about to say more, but obviously decided against it, instead taking a deep breath and pressing a hand over his eyes. “Just…give me a moment. Or five.”

Noctis nodded slowly, sniffing one last time for good measure before he tried to scoot himself into his wheelchair pushed right against the edge of the couch. He practically fell in it, but it was good enough, he figured.

Feeling the plastic bag he had forgot about kept in the side pocket, he backed out as best as he could and motioned Prompto to follow after him.

“I got you a gift,” He tried to say as brightly as he could, though his eyes were still red and an occasional sob kept catching at his throat.

Prompto immediately brightened, and then it made Noctis brightened, until it kept coming full circle that any bystander would have to wear sunglasses to look at them any longer than 2.5 seconds.

“Here,” Noctis handed the bag over, the contents gift wrapped with a little note attached to it and everything. Prompto easily opened the bag, but seemed to pause when he reached the gift wrap with chocobos all over it.

He got ready to explain what the gift wrap was, like when he had explained fiction or cats or fishing, but Prompto simply untied it carefully, nudging his fingernail under each messy piece of tape and unraveling it slowly. Painfully slowly.

Noctis wanted to rush him, he did, but he also knew on some level that Prompto needed this. Needed to keep the wrapping as untarnished as possible, as horrible as the job had been.

It all payed off when Prompto’s face lit up at the camera staring back at him, all shiny monochrome and neckband tightened to the max.

“So you can remember the trip.” Noctis explained after several moments of silence. “I want you to keep track of everything, okay?”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Prompto smiled softly, almost to himself. “Yeah. Thanks.”

His hands closed over the blond’s around the camera, gently drawing him back to the real world. “Let’s take a selfie, that sounds good.”

Prompto tilted his head. “A selfie?”

He fumbled for a moment for the correct words. “It’s uh, a photo you take of yourself, sometimes with other people in them. They’re fun.”

Well, that’s what the funny Crownsguard said, but he also really liked puns, so there’s that.

“Here,” Noctis plucked the camera from his hands, fiddling with the buttons for a few moments before flipping it so the lens faced them. “Pose time! In three..two..”

“Wait, what -”

“One!”

The flash blinded both of them for several long moments, and Prompto swore that every time he blinked he kept seeing miniature stars. The old polaroid camera beneath his hands whirred, spitting out a bleached looking photo of the two of them crammed together in his chair. Noctis’ smile showed off way too teeth, and Prompto’s face was half panic, half confusion.

It was nothing like the old portraits that lined the halls of the Citadel. It was perfect.

“What do you want to do with it?” Prompto looked up at him from where he was still admiring the photo, his grip on the edge of the still fresh photo feather light. “We could pin it to the wall, or put it in picture book like that one Cactuar in _My Moogle and Me_ had.” Noctis clarified after a moment of continued non-understanding, even using the movie they watched together a couple days ago as a reference point.

“I think…” Prompto fiddled with the photo, holding it up to the light reverently. “I’m just gonna keep it with me.”

 

“Do you children honestly keep nothing of food in this house?” Ardyn stormed around the kitchen angrily, opening and slamming cupboards, his face growing more and more furious the more he failed to find any marshmallows.

“We can’t reach the top cupboards.” Noctis pointed out bluntly, using his arms to push himself around in the bar stool. Beside him, Prompto watched for a few moments before swiftly copying, if a tad unsynced. Cecillia squeaked in his hair at the sudden movement, and a laugh burst out of him against his will.

“That’s no excuse for the abysmal state of this kitchen. Don’t children like marshmallows anyhow?”

Prompto shrugged. “I don’t know, I haven’t had them before.”

“Me neither.”

Ardyn stared at both of them for a good minute, even pausing in his furious pacing of the kitchen to give them both a look Noctis couldn’t recognize. “Then what do the two of you put in your hot chocolate?”

He was met with twin shrugs, and something dark contorted his expression that had even him leaning back. Boko squawked angrily from her perch on the counter in front of Prompto, feathers bristling and looking around three seconds away from biting off Ardyn’s head until Prompto started petting her anxiously.

Sensing the fact that the ratio of violence against was higher than not, Ardyn pinched the bridge of his nose and forced himself to calm down. The tension in the room drained out slowly, both of the kids loosening their shoulders when they realized they wouldn’t have to jump in between the two.

“We are going to the store and going to buy some marshmallows for the unused hot chocolate mix because it is highly evidential that neither of you have ever had it, which I consider a grave offence. Then, the two of you will drink the hot chocolate and get to bed, as it already eight in the afternoon.”

It was? Spinning slightly in the bar stool, he saw that the streetlights outside were already on and the sky was dark. Woah, he didn’t even notice the sun had set on them, so involved in the movie, and then letting Prom photograph half of the apartment. It would be the first time the two of them had left the apartment after dark, the both of them having a healthy - healthy! - fear of the dark and what came with it.

But Ardyn would be there, and he was a storybook king who had to have the curse broken on him. So it would be alright.

He nodded his approval of this very important mission, and Prompto hummed his agreement with a “Okie dokie” a few moments afterward, the two of them having reached the same conclusion.

Ardyn clapped his hands together pompously, already reaching over to pick up Noctis and drop him - gently, the prince noticed - into his wheelchair back into the very un-handicap friendly city. Seriously, Noctis was being carried more often than he could get around on his own, and it was starting to grate on his nerves.

“Then let us be off.” Ardyn rolled the letters around in his mouth, only pausing when Prompto jumped in the wheelchair next to Noctis with an arm full of Boko, the two of them instigating an impromptu cuddling session right there and then. “...Ok then.”

“Push us!” Prompto pointed onward much like one would direct a chocobo, and Ardyn only sighed longsufferingly before obeying him, the effort two people instead of one shown in his ridiculously slow pace, according to him at the very least.

“So how’s work going, Mister Ardyn?” Prompto kicked his legs to an unheard beat as they strolled towards the downtown area of Altissia, bending his neck so far back Noctis was half afraid it would snap to get a look at Ardyn’s face.

“Fine. Horrible. I hate everyone there, maybe not my secretary. She’s the one who gave me the idea of sending you the stuffed animals, if you were wondering.”

Prompto fist met his open hand as he practically lit up. “Oh yeah, the stuffed animals! Why so many of them?”

Ardyn didn’t even have the gall to look embarrassed.

Noctis tuned out the conversation after a few minutes, focused on gently beckoning Cecillia out of his hair. They had tangled themselves into his hair into almost a complete snarl, and he spent the majority of the trip trying to coax them out with soft words and hums. He noticed they tended to like singing, especially his, so he tried his best to hum along to something as often as he could or even softly murmur the lyrics of a song stuck in his head under his breath.

Then the wheelchair slowed to a stop, both Ardyn and Prompto stiffening up in a way Noctis thought only his guards could do, hands hovering over where hidden weapons probably were. It spoke of his company that he was used to this by now.

His hums cut off as he recognized someone standing near the corner, dressed in familiar dark robes with a crest he’s seen all his life imprinted on their front.

Kingsglaive.

Ardyn slowly released his handlebars, hand still hovering over where he guessed a knife would be, if the size of it was any guess. “Prompto, be a dear and take Noctis the other way around the block to the store, will you?”

Prompto bit his lip, anxiously standing up from the chair and leaving Boko to Noctis’ hands. “But -”

“Now!”

The blond startled, hands flying up into the air to grip at nothing around his hair. He hesitated for only a moment longer, feet warring between the need to stay with an adult in the darkness who could keep them safe and the absolute to protect himself and Noctis.

He chose the latter.

“C’mon Noct,” Prompto whispered, carefully backing them up and pushing them away. Noctis twisted in his seat to watch Ardyn get smaller and smaller as the man fixed his sleeves and walked determinedly toward the Kingsglaive.

Don’t hurt him, some part of him prayed.

Ardyn glanced back at him, and smirked lightly when they made eye contact, but it was comforting. Warm.

Don’t worry, the smirk told him.

It wasn’t a promise, but it was all he had, so he held onto it.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” He asked, fiddling with his haori anxiously when it felt like several minutes had already past. “I mean, Papa’s definitely pretty strong, but a Kingsglaive guy?”

Prompto cast him a strange look, but slowed to a stop obediently once they passed yet another corner. “You said Papa.”

“Yeah, so?” Prompto was kinda missing the point here, he had to admit it. Of course Ardyn was -

Oh.

Noctis had never turned red so fast in his life, not even when Luna had graced him with a cheek peck once. “Lies!” He squeaked loudly, bundling up Boko to his chest in embarrassment. “Lies and slander!”

“Sure, sure.” Prompto hummed, the heavy mood lifted. “But anyhow…”

He looked up at the blond, who was staring at the river next to them with a confused face.

“Do you know where we are?”

 

“Yay! Civilization!”

“It wasn’t that long.” Prompto groused sourly, but he was just sore he had totally gotten them lost. In an area without cell tower service anyhow, so they couldn’t Marlboro Maps their way out of their, like they had the last six times they had gotten lost in the city. And that was just in one day.

Noctis plopped his head down on Prompto’s shoulder, the boy having resorted to carrying him the last few times they had to unload and then reload him into the gondolas, forcing Boko to follow them (something she did very unhappily). He could see the lights of the main street up ahead, the towering building of the hotel up ahead.

But they were still walking through a dark alleyway at night, so he blamed Prompto for their current situation.

“C’mon, it’s not that bad, we’re almost - SHIT -” Prompto flung both of them behind the corner, the rancid smell of daemons filling the air, yet Noctis never once looked away from the blond in amazement.

“You said a bad word.” He whispered, eyes wider than saucer plates. “Uh oh.”

Prompto was a little focused on the daemons approaching them, admittedly, even as he repeated the “Uh oh.” in surprise.

He peeked over his best friend’s ever shoulder, mouth parting a bit before before a single squeak escaped him.

“They’re so cute!”

Prompto gave him such a disturbed look Noctis was admittedly a little afraid he broke his friend. “Cute.” He repeated, voice empty of any emotion.

Noctis waved soundlessly, words beyond his current emotional combustion status.

One of the tonberries hissed.

“Just look at them!” He squealed a bit, pointing at the lead tonberry, who did not look pleased at his squeaks. Or how Boko was shrieking at them.

“A…green turtle with a knife?”

He sighed, heavily disappointed in the lack of adoration from the blond. “If only Iggy was here.”

The tonberries moved slowly towards them, one step in front of the other. So slowly, in fact, that Prompto eventually just sat the both of them down, their phones open as they watered their virtual farms.

“Hey, do you have any apples?”

“Oh god, please, take them from me. But - hey don’t run on the flowers!”

The tonberries watched in silent judgement, knifes still raised. Still three feet away.

“Awww, Isabella is my favorite, she’s nice.”

“Sabelle is better!”

A few tonberries, realizing their intimidating slow walk wasn’t quite working, just turned around and melted back under the super ominous shadows. The more brave ones kept shuffling forward, but they looked more interested now in the game they were playing then shish kebabing them.

“NO DON’T MOVE AWAY I LOVE YOU!”

“Oh, who’s moving away - _no way_.”

One particularly brave tonberry edged toward Prompto just enough to peek over his arm, and then froze as if it was caught by invisible tendrils, glowing eyes fixated on the phone screen.

“Wanna play hide and seek? You can’t hide inside though or leave the village.”

“Sure!”

“Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…”

The next time Noctis glanced over, they had approximately an entire army’s worth of tonberries watching them play animal crossing.

He blinked.

“You know what this means right.”

“ _No_.”

“ _I’m a parent now_.”

Prompto balked, hands flying in an ‘are you seeing this’ toward the tonberries, some of who migrated right into Noctis’ lap like he was the animal whisperer from the Shinryu channel. “You’re ten! I’m probably ten! We cannot adopt an entire colony of tonberries - however much they like animal crossing.”

Noctis pouted. “You’d let them if they were chocobos…” He pointed out sulkily, crossing his arms with a disappointed twist of the mouth.  

“Well…” The blond obviously sensed he was in deep trouble, and decided to wisely try and back out of it before Noctis broke out his ultimate weapon. “Chocobos are cute and fluffy and soft and -” Prompto trailed off, too busy making sappy faces at Boko, who was only too happy to be under that much attention.

“Can we at least adopt _one_?” He whined, nuzzling the tonberry in his lap. “We’re already taking care of Carbuncle and Boko and Ragnarok and Cecillia and Cactuar - why not one more?”

Prompto shot him a look that screamed ‘you know why’.

Noctis sighed. He really didn’t want to do this, but oh well. Time to burst out the big guns.

His eyes teared up.

“Oh no you don’t.” Prompto shook his head, resolutely looking somewhere to the left of his face instead of directly in his watery eyes. “I won’t fall for that again - not after the pop tart incident.”

His eyes continued to water.

Prompto still refused to look at him, but that was okay. He had this in the bag.

A single tear escaped and slowly dripped down his cheek. He even sniffled a bit, just for good measure.

Prompto broke.

“Fine,” He collapsed on the alley way’s floor in a dramatic slump, gone to the world. “You win.”

Noctis fist pumped. Turning to the tonberry who he had been petting for the better part of the last ten minutes, he tucked his hands under their tiny arms and lifted it high above his head.

“And I shall name you Killer.” He said as seriously as he could muster to the tonberry - now named Killer, who looked as if they couldn’t care less.

His phone buzzed, but his hands were too busy holding up Killer like that scene from one of the movies they watched last weekend, so he just looked expectantly at Prompto. Who then decided that instead of rummaging through his pocket for it - like he did whenever he wanted candy or sometimes just to go through his phone - he would make a weird sound instead.

Prompto’s mouth ticked as he continued making that weird clicking sound, head tilting along to the strange clicks that were slowly progressing into almost a popping sound.

Then, as if his best friend had just cast magic, the tonberry jumped from his hands and into Prompto’s lap, where they snuggled right up with a series of their own little clicks.

“You can talk to daemons.” Noctis said distantly, eyes fixed on the tonberry.

And because this is their life now, Prompto just shrugged and said : “Well, you have fairytale creatures following you around; you can’t judge.”

 

“Mister Ardyn is busy, apparently his sec - secretary found out he left and now he’s in big trouble - oh yeah, and all the private gondolas are closed for the night, so we should just get some dinner and wait and he’ll come get us in a jiffy.” Prompto read out loud from his phone, looking increasingly proud he was able to pronounce all of that with no trouble.

“But all the food places are closed.” Noctis commented idly, gaze wandering the still lit street. Which was true enough; the hotel was still shining over the Altissian sea and a few vendors were still barely open, but the restaurants were all closed for the night.

Prompto looked up from admiring Malboro Maps on his phone long enough to cast a glance around at the quieting street. “Hmm…Give me a minute.”

He started counting.

“Okay, so it looks like there’s a place -”

“Sixty Insomnias!”

Prompto didn’t even bother answering him, the jerk. “A bar down this way, it looks like. If we use Mister Ardyn’s super secret map, we can get there without using the gondolas.”

Noctis started pushing himself forward before Prompto even finished. “Sounds good! What’s the name of the place?”

“It’s uh - You’re going the wrong way -”

“I totally knew that.”

“Magio? Moana? Mahaha?” Prompto tried each of the words unsuccessfully before finally giving up on pronouncing them with a sigh. “Boko, do you know?”

Said chocobo nudged his cheek with her own, and both of them had to take a minute to coo over how cute she was while Killer and her growled/hissed at each other.

“Oh yeah,” Noctis’ eyes drifted toward the keychained phone, a small idea popping in his head before he shoved it into ‘when hands are free’ category. “Did Ardyn say anything else?”

“Uh…” Prompto clicked out of maps and brought up the text message screen once more, and now that Noctis could see it, he could definitely see a whole lot of ‘Good mornings!’ and ‘go to sleep before i rip your spleen out through your nose’, which made him oddly jealous.

For what reason did he have to be jealous? Sure, Ardyn probably liked Prompto more, but that was fine. He wasn’t being clingy or anything.

“Something about the Kingsglaive guy, stuff like don’t worry and things like that.” Prompto frowned at the screen, tapping out what sounded like an angry text message before closing out and back to maps. “Oh, take a right here! He writes too fancy for me to read sometimes.”

Noctis thought about Iggy. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

The hustle and bustle of the nightlife finally drifted through the too quiet night, and Noctis shooed Killer and Boko back to wherever they go when they’re not with them (probably having a party in the astral realm, what did he know?) but let Cecillia stay in his hair, his paranoia a little too strong not to have one of them with him.

Eventually, the sign came in view and both of them had to stop and stare at the fancy print for a minute, and the dark skinned man across the bar table who stared back, shock written all over the stranger’s face.

_Maagho’s Bar and Restaurant_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, I forgot to mention last chapter, but the reason Noctis went by 'Sarah' through immigration is actually another franchise joke. A lot of famous princesses in the Final Fantasy Franchise are named Sarah ^_^
> 
> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Zefer
> 
> That's the movie they were watching, in case anyone was wondering. And yes, it's actually pretty centric to the plot, haha. Prompto _does_ judge his world and behavior through media. 
> 
> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Tonberry
> 
> I actually had to ask my discord chat for help naming this fellow, solely because the first name I came up was Berry, and that was just. no. 
> 
> And.... yes! A couple of you guessed about Maagho and the drama that'll came with it. The next chapter is a doozy for sure, involving Noctis using magic again, chase scenes, one of my favorite guardians yet (So excited!), and actual...plot?


	7. I wanna die!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which chase scenes occur, Noctis ends up being an accidental badass, a wild Lapras appears, some yandere slips in there again in a blink and you'll miss it scene, and the author has listened to the same song on repeat writing this for hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta...da?

“Noct,” Prompto whispered, scooting closer to him in the bar stool. “That guy is giving me the heeby-jeebies.”

Noctis took a long, slow sip of his lemonade through the purple swirly straw. The bartender, whose name tag read “Weskham’, kept glancing at them and pressing for more details about them. Prompto didn’t get it, but Noctis was a _prince_. he knew when someone was trying to wiggle stuff out of him. “Me too. How much longer until Ardyn is here?”

Prompto made another show out of checking his phone, though it was only thirty seconds to the outside world but about three thousand years for them since the last time he’d checked his phone. “Uh, ten more minutes?”

He made a distressed sound low in his throat, but glared at Weskham when the bartender looked like he was going to fuss over him from across the room. The swirly straw made another depressing slurp sound when he - once again - finished his lemonade.

“He can teleport can’t he?” He whined, slapping gil for more lemonade on the bar like the rest of the adults were doing, which earned him several more amused looks from the people around him.  “Why can’t he come get us _now_ , then?”

Prompto shrugged and finished off his actual chocobo food drink with a pointed slurp. “Maybe he’s tired?”

Noctis flailed, because that’s not how magic worked, jeez. He’s tired, cranky, frankly still sore from this morning’s physical therapy routine, and getting real sick of Weskham’s weird looks. He wants to go home, maybe get some cuddles and a bedtime story like his dad used to before he got too busy.

Whoops, made himself sad. He chugged half of the new lemonde in one go, slamming the drink down on the table with a pout.

“I wanna go home…” He whines slightly, resting his chin on the counter with a frown. Prompto winced sympathetically, patting his back with a small smile.

“I know,” Prompto whispered, ruffling his hair. “Hey, on the bright side, they have a jukebox?”

Noctis rose from the table like the blond summoned the dead, hand already digging in his pocket for spare gil.

“Go,” He said solemnly, passing over the change with a stern expression. “Follow your calling and save the world, young Prompto.”

Prompto nodded, hands clenched around the silver coins with mock determination. “Thank you, my liege.”

Both of them stared at some distant point in the horizon, repeating the last word on repeat in their brains. And then shrugged, because it sounded cool but honestly neither of them knew what it actually meant.

Prompto skipped over to the jukebox with a song under his breath, something with a lot of latin lyrics and ominous chanting. He busied himself meanwhile sipping at another  lemonade with a small giggle as he watched his friend stare at the jukebox machine, completely bedazzled.

A few moments later, Prompto slinked back with a scowl, gil slipped back to him. “I don’t get it.”

“I got you,” He hummed, slinging an arm around Prompto’s shoulder automatically and half stumbling to a stand. Slowly, they made their way across the bar’s floor at a crawl, most of his weight being supported by Prompto. “Here we go, you insert the gil like this and…”

He clicked a couple of buttons, their song selection shining in front of them with a wave of pixilated sparkles. “And you choose which song you want, just like that!”

Prompto hummed, staring at their choices with a slight furrow in his brown, both of his hands occupied with keeping Noctis on his feet without collapsing. “But I don’t know any of their names,” He admitted after several awkward moments where he just stared at the jukebox. “I like the one that has the beat, the one that played when the fish stall was selling things half priced.”

“Oh yeah!” Noctis lit up, completely ignoring the fact why the fish stall was playing such a jazzy tune anyways when it had no such business doing that. “Here you go, just insert the Gil here and…”

_Calling for Rain_ slowly filtered through the speakers, and Prompto’s face lit up as the catchy beat started playing. He let out a loud laugh when the blond started to spin him around, dancing wildly around the sticky floors even as Noctis could only sway with him.

“All I wanted,” Prompto was singing loudly along to the music, all sense of public embarrassment lost as they danced to the music, and out of the corner of his eyes he could see a couple of more people on the outskirts lightly dancing to it. “Rain falling -”

Noctis couldn’t help the smile splitting his face as Prompto hefted him up above the ground by under his arms, letting his legs kick as best he could to the music mid air. Weskham’s looks, the boredom of waiting for Ardyn, the roiling sense of magic in his head, all of it faded away along to the music. It was just him and Prompto, and this time he let himself laugh as loudly as he wanted.

Eventually the music came to an end, and he grinned sheepishly when a few women made awwing sounds and clapped at them. Prompto panted beside him, guiding him back to their seats and basically collapsing back into them.

“That was awesome!” The blond wiggled in his seat, plucking his new drink only fit for chocobo consumption off the counter and swallowing nearly half of it in one go. “But really, really tiring. Let’s do it again!”

Noctis opened his mouth to respond, but a shadow fell over both of them, startling them into silence as they gazed up at the woman standing in front of them.

“Weren’t you two just adorable,” She laughed loudly, a faint flush on her cheeks that made him think of Uncle Clarus and the bottle he tried hiding really quickly but really badly when he went to stop by and say hello one day in his office cuz he was bored. “I haven’t found something so cute since… since my own baby was born!”

Prompto laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with a smile playing around his mouth. “Thanks, Ma’am.”

“I swear,” She mummrered under her breath, softly patting both their heads with an almost… motherly? Smile. “You two are just like my own boy. Did I tell you how young he is?”

Both of them exchanged unsure looks. “Um, no?”

“Well he’s -” Weskham finally made an appearance, hands over her shoulders to lightly guide her away from the two bedaffled children. “That’s right enough, ma’am. Why don’t I get you a water and let you sit down for a bit, okay?”

“That sounds awfully kind of you…” Their voices faded out as they got farther and farther away from them, but it was only when the lady finally sat down did both of them stop staring after her and instead at each other.

“Let’s leave.”

“Good idea!”

The dark haired boy slid the gil for the rest of the drinks on the counter, letting Prompto guide him out of his seat and towards where they had parked the wheelchair when they first arrived. He collapsed it in gratefully as soon as he was close enough, more than willing to say goodbye to Maagho and weird bartenders and strange ladies.

As Prompto started pushing him away and towards the closest street, he glanced behind him just in time to see Weskham staring after them, a phone raised to his ear as he muttered soft words into it.

 

“Now that that is over,” Noctis looked up at Prompto from where he was staring at his knees, the two of them drawing to a stop near a closed down holiday shop. “Where should we wait now for Ardyn, because no offence, but this place is kinda creepy.”

He looked around at the dim lighting, the lack of any people, and the rancid but slight smell of daemons in the air. It was creepy.

“What way is back towards the hotel?” He asked, craning his neck as far back as he could to gaze around the deserted street. “It’s fancy, but it’s warm.”

It was true, the air was turning colder the longer they stayed outside, and he shivered lightly, drawing his haori closer to himself in a futile effort to seek heat.

Even Prompto looked slightly cold, tucking the lower half of his face into his scarf and letting out a small sneeze. “There’s no service for Malboro Maps though.”

He summoned his own phone, flipping the device and checking for a signal, but only sighing when he didn’t receive any. Why did Altissia have such bad signal always?

Oh right, because it was an actual death trap of a city and it enjoyed stranding them in weird places. He whistled for Cecilia under his breath, the small sylph darting around his head in a rush of wind. Noctis couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of him when a flower crown plopped onto his head, Cecilia high pitched giggles resounding off the air in a way that reminded him of the fae from the storybooks before they dissipated in a rush of iron. 

Tilting his head, he felt a smile flit onto his face when he heard a slight hum that signified a generator. “I think there’s a place with fire over there,” He pointed to the left of them, where steep stairs awaited them. Both of them sighed at them, but there was nothing else to do but maybe stake it out someplace until Ardyn could retrieve them and use his magic teleport powers to bring them home.

“I hate the dark,” Prompto admitted after several moments of pushing him, and he couldn’t help the quizzical look on his face as he turned to look to his best friend, who was staring resolutely ahead with a frown on his face. “It’s scary. There’s always daemons about, and almost everyone’s in bed.”

“It is scary.” He squeezed the top of Prompto’s hand lightly, and Prompto released his hold on the handles just lost enough to flip his hand over and squeeze back. “But don’t worry, I will fight literally anyone who hurts you!”

It took a moment, but finally Prompto let out a tiny laugh just as something pinged in his brain.

“There’s a guardian nearby,” He cheered, spinning his chair back from Prompto’s hold and shortcutting his way towards where he could feel it, tingling in his head like someone stuck wasabi up his nose, circumventing around the stairs and towards a small street on their lft.

“C’mon!” Noctis called back to Prompto, wheeling his chair slowly around the junk littering the allyway. “We gotta find it before Ardyn gets here, and then we can - oof!”

The front of his chair bumped against the alleyways trashcan, colling with it and knocking it straight to the ground in an explosion of sound. Noctis couldn’t help his half-startled shriek at the sound, flinching back, the force of it sending his wheelchair back several inches.

From beyond the flipped over trash can, a pale face with familiar braids peaked over.

Noctis stared.

The stranger stared.

Both of them screamed at the same time.

“Your highness -” Nyx shouted, climbing to his feet and reaching out to him, but Noct gave him no time, simply reaching into his magic reservoirs he shared with his father, something he had been purposely ignoring as it would send his whereabouts faster than turning on current locations on his phone.

By the end of the shirek, Noctis had already casted Meteora, wheeled backwards as fast as his chair could take it without tipping over, and practically tossed himself into Prompto’s startled arms. He payed no mind to the wheelchair dissolving under him, swinging his way to face the opposite direction of Nyx. 

“RUN!” He yelled, tugging on blond locks when Prompto didn’t respond fast enough. Quickly, the other boy caught onto his panicked expression and booked it down the street, quickly cutting around the next corner, an actual _Kingsglaive_ member on their heels.

“How did he know we were in Altissia?!” Prompto screamed in his ear as they practically flew down the street and around sharp, dark turns, Noctis watching with wide eyes as the streams of blue light that signified warping drew closer and closer to their location.

“I don’t think he did!” Noctis half leaned over Prompto’s shoulder, readying another spell in his hand. He could feel Cactuar nudging against his magic sense, all sharp greens and ozone, but he held back. The last thing he needed was to accidentally kill one of the glaves who was actually pretty nice to him, even giving him sweets on more than one occasion when he was down in the slumps after another failed physical therapy session.

Nyx appeared in the distance, and only had about another second before Noctis called Fireworks and almost blinded the older man with sparkles and glitter.

Prompto chanced a glance back, ducking under a low hanging alleyway to buy them more time. “Hey, I didn’t know you could do that!”

Noctis shrugged as best he could hanging over his friend’s shoulder. It was only something he thought he could do when he was playing with Carbuncle in his dreamworld, but hey, what do you know.

The water was approaching them quickly, not just another one of the rivers that split the city apart but the actual sea itself, it looked like. Prompto started to slow down, but he remedied with a quick tug of the ear. “Keep going!”

“What?” Prompto stared at him for another moment, but he just stared back grimly. “This better not go wrong, you know!”

“It won’t,” He assured, watching as the water kept approaching, several feet left before they would meet harsh reality against the guardrail. “Throw me over, and then jump, okay?!”

Thank Astrals Prompto didn’t have time to answer that, or else Noctis was half afraid he would lose his hearing in his ear for the sure resulting scream. Not that he blamed him, but now wasn’t the time.

The fence kept approaching, and by the time it was about a foot and a half away he managed to scream out a half incoherent “Now!”

Prompto listened, and hefted him right up in the air, before he was sent air-borne, right over the guardrail and fast approaching the water at a dangerous speed. His legs were still healing, he could only walk short distances, he couldn’t swim yet. If this failed -

Magic swelled in his mind, and a shape began to take shape under the waterline just as he hit the surface of it.

He let out as a gasp as Prompto landed with a cut off scream next to him, practically almost rocketing off the guardian before Noctis latched a hand around his belt and hauled him back up next to him.

_You wish to go, young prince?_ He heard in his head, and his nod was barely finished before the guardian dipped halfway under the water and took off, leaving the two of them laying on the dragon’s back clinging to its fins for dear life.

“What just happened?!” Prompto cried, nuzzling his face against Noctis’ side, and with a pang he realized that this probably just ensured a panic attack on the other boy’s part.

He waited several more moments for the guardian to take them far enough out of the way of the city before he whispered instructions for them to turn them around the long way back towards their apartment. “I felt their presence before we bumped into Nyx, right, and I figured they would be the fastest way out. Speaking of, what’s your name, fishie?”

The guardian rumbled in his head. _Syldra_ , they, no _she_ whispered affectionately, and he had the oddest thought of a big sister running through his mind before it disappeared.

“Syldra, she’s a fish dragon, I think.” Noctis paused, now making himself confused on fish dragons and randomly showing up when he was just minding his own business and not when, you know, he was actually searching for them.

“Noct,” Prompto stated flatly, gazing with vacant eyes at their newest dragon. “We are riding on a Lapras.”

He tilted his head. “She doesn’t have the shell, though.”

Instead of responding, Prompto let out a little sniffle, and Noctis felt a sharp wave of panic run through him at the thought of his friend crying.

“Don’t cry!” He sat up, mentally calling Syldra to slow down a bit so he didn’t have to cling for dear life. “Here, no more tears, okay?!”

Boko appeared in his hands with a wave of blue glitter, and Prompto attempted a wobbly smile before Boko faded away again, his magic too strained from casting multiple spells in a row to hold a guardian that wasn't essential. “I’m sorry,” He choked with a wet voice, rubbing viciously at his cheeks before Noctis stopped him from making himself bleed. “That was just a little too scary, okay?”

Noctis nodded slowly, leaning forward and brushing his forehead against Prompto’s with a small smile. “I know, and it's okay. Take all the time you need.”

Prompto nodded thankfully, wrapping his own arms around Noctis’ shoulders and drawing him into a bone crushing hug. But he didn’t complain, feeling water seep into his shoulder that he knew wasn’t from the spray of the bay.

After a couple of minutes, Prompto drew back with a little watery laugh, which he totally wasn’t disappointed about it ending, no siree. “You never told me you could magic!”

“Oh,” Noctis tilting his head, not seeing the relevance in the current conversation about running away from angry glaives and totally not chucking him over guardrails. “I told you that earlier, remember?”

Prompto made a face. “I thought you were joking!”

“Nope,” He lifted his chin proudly, calling some magic to his hand even if he was super tired, because while you were in Altissia, why not? “I can do a couple of spells, but I can’t warp like my dad can or any of those schmancy ones the glaives use.”

Prompto clapped his hands when he muttered the incantations for Raindrops under his breath, watching the water drops fall from the sky with a small smile.

“So…” The blond finally said when the rain ended, curling a warm hand around his own. “You’re a sorceress, than?”

Noctis puffed up like a wet chocobo. “I’m not a girl!”

Prompto dragged his eyes up and down his form pointedly, especially at the girl’s Yukata he was wearing and the flower crown Cecilia made for him askewed in his hair.

He flushed. “Boys can wear have cute stuff too!”

That seemed like an acceptable enough answer for Prompto, who only smiled and tugged on his hair fondly. “So a sorcerer, then?”

Noctis grimaced. “But the sorceress died in the movie because her magic was the only thing that could stop the meteor from hitting the planet! I don’t wanna die!”

“You won’t die.” Prompto stated, but his tone was off, expression closed. Noctis felt Prompto’s hands cup his face, resting their foreheads together once again as Syldra rocked beneath them to the waves, his own eyes wide as saucers. “I won’t let you die.”

Noctis could feel his heart doubling, tripling into overtime as Prompto’s nails dug lightly into his scalp. Limply, he reached up to grab onto the blond’s wrists, but the hold was weak, tentative.

“So don’t you dare die on me, gotcha?” Just like that, Prompto was schooting back after the very not so vague threat, an easy smile on his face even as Noct could only gape. “Sorcerers are always evil in the movies though.”

It took him several moments, but he was finally able to respond back to his friend. “I…guess? I don’t think I’m a Sorcerer, I don’t have the pointy hat.”

Prompto’s fist smacked into his open palm. “Then you’re a Sorceress!”

He squinted his eyes. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Prom.” He finally got himself comfortable on Syldra, giving the water dragon a brief pat on the back as they finally turned around the back of the city near Palazzo Altemeria, cutting through several channels on the long way back to their apartment. “Besides, I don’t have pretty enough hair to be a girl.”

His best friend gasped like he committed treason, murder, killed a chocobo, and jaywalked right in front of him. “Not true! You have the prettiest hair out of everyone I have ever met, including Mister Ardyn.”

“Ardyn’s hair is purple though,” Nocti pointed out with a wrinkle of his nose. “He doesn’t count, by default.”

“True, true.”

Syldra finally slowed down as they approached their apartment, allowing them to disembark on their private dock with a gentle swell in the water. Noctis managed to mostly get off on his own, even if he had to lean heavily on Prompto’s side once they got on shore.

“Thank you,” He smiled Syldra, watching her bring her head out of the water to sniff at his hair. “For saving our butts, and for swimming us home.”

Syldra ducked her head so they were eye level, a level of wisdom in her eyes he saw in his dad whenever he was pulled aside during playtime to talk to important people. _It was no problem, young prince. All I ask in return is a small boom._

He tilted his head. “A what?”

Noctis couldn’t feel it, but he somehow knew that Syldra was amused. _A favor. When the young prince is king…protect this land and its people. Let it be done, and you have my blessing._

Well, that was easy. “Duh,” He intoned with a little tongue click. “Of course I’ll protect Altissia! It's very pretty, if you didn’t know. And they make good pizza.”

There was a good, long pause where Syldra just looked at him.

_Yes, you are very young. I can see why the Dream likes you so._ Noctis thought he could hear a laugh reverberate in his head slightly. _Someday, you will save this planet at a cost too great, but it seems that perhaps fate will play its hand differently if you continue along this path._

Syldra slinked below the water level in a rush of salt water and sunscreen against his magic sense. He knew, without a doubt, that Syldra knew more than she was letting on about why Carbuncle was urging him to find all the guardians.

But he didn’t care, not really. He had Prompto, and all his friends, and that was all that mattered in the end, wasn’t it?

And maybe, he had Ardyn too.

“Let’s go pack,” He raised his chin, and with a limp he managed to stumble his way home.

 

“I won’t miss this place,” Noctis admitted out loud, and Prompto blinked at him from where he was stuffing his bag full of stuffed animals.

“Why not?”

He looked over the apartment once more, all light wooden pieces and large windows. There, the couch him and Prompto watched movies all day last week. There, the time Prompto decided to let Boko try sugar and the ensuing chaos it caused in the dining room. There, the makeshift physical therapy bars they set up for him to learn how to walk again.

“Because,” He said with one last look, grinning over at his best friend with a laugh. “We’re one step closer to be unstoppable.”

Prompto stared after him, but his eyes softened. “Yeah, we’ll be unstoppable, won’t we?”

When the last of their belongings were loaded into the armiger, Prompto locked the door behind them with a sad smile, a reverent hand brushing against the wooden post. “I hope Ardyn won’t mind the lack of warning.”

Noctis smiled, a crinkle of his eyes. His legs dangled over the water’s edge, Syldra’s head resting in his lap. He was tired, exhausted really. But Altissia wasn’t safe any longer, he realized with a pang. They had to go, and go now before more glaives flocked into the city.

“Where to now?” Prompto asked, helping him stand up and climb onto Syldra’s back.

Despite himself, he couldn’t help one last look at the apartment that housed them for the last several days, a laugh bubbling in his throat. Too bad Prompto would kick him off the dragon if he suggested setting the apartment on fire before they left.

In his hands, the Carbuncle charm dangled from Luna’s notebook.

“Tenebrae.”

 

 

 

"Did you remember to text Ardyn where we're going?"

" _Shit_ ," 

"Potty mouth! That's five Gil for the swear jar!" 

"We don't even have a swear jar!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Offscreen: "YOU HAD ONE JOB NYX, ONE JOB" 
> 
> Also if you didn't get it (I'm not sure a ten year old would be able to infer this, so I left it out) Nyx totally drank too much and was throwing up in the alleway when the kiddos ran into him. 
> 
> http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Syldra
> 
> Whoops, guess...that just happened? The smoll children said goodbye to Altissia, and are on their way to Tenebrae. How much trouble can they get into? ...Yeah, let's not answer that. 
> 
> Good news! This will likely be updated every other Sunday from now on. The weekly updates ended up just kicking me around, but I managed to get my inspiration back haha. 
> 
> Also! I've been thinking about creating this into a series, with little drabbles of their shenanigans. So! If you have any requests of smoll children, I'll see what I can do ^^


	8. Is the author a sadist? Stay tuned to find out!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the author finally gets to scream about theories, Prompto has a crush, Noctis gets bashed in the head with suffering, and overall this is not a good time for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! This chapter wasn't actually that hard to write, though I got literally nothing done I wanted on the outline haha. Either way, thank you all for your comments and kudos, it's the only thing that's helped me get this far with this monstrosity of a crack fic. 
> 
> Also! PRETTY IMPORTANT IF YOURE CONFUSED ON THE NAMING: Tenebrae is a country, not a capital or a city. So Noctis refers to everything in terms to the actual city and regions. 
> 
> I.E: Tenbrae (country) - Ulwaat (country, or district, likely) - Zoldara Henge (capital of Tenebrae) - Fenestala Manor (Where Luna and Ravus reside, the center of the city)

“I think I see it!” Prompto leaned over Syldra’s head, a hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun burning down overhead. “Is it floating? I think it’s floating.”

“Yep, it floats.” Noctis clicked his tongue, sipping the last of the apple juice boxes before letting it vanish back into the armiger with the rest of his trash. He wasn’t going to _litter_. “I think Luna said something about gravity being all funky because of how _much_ magic there is in Zoldara Henge just in the air.”

The other boy mouthed the word ‘magic’ to himself with a scowl, obviously not appreciating the lack of numbers making things float. “Why is there so much magic, though?

Noctis kicked his bare feet, letting the ocean spray wash over him with a giggle. “Luna, duh.” He wiggled his fingers at the other boy, eyes fixed on the approaching capital in the distance. “Insomnia has a bunch of magic in the air too, me and dad kinda…radiate it I guess would be the word. That’s why the Kingsglaive can use magic, we just give them the stuff that would just normally float away.”   

Prompto stared.

“Does that mean,” He inhaled sharply, the sun burn on his face only drawing out his practically sparkling eyes. “I can do magic?!”

That was…a very serious and an actual question.

He judged the distance between them and Tenebrae, realized he couldn’t judge the distance, promptly shrugged, and reached over to the briefly let a small handmade thunder spell flick over his fingers towards Prompto.

“Try to imagine it like something that makes you happy.” Noctis quickly realized that all of his dad’s boring lectures to the Kingsglaives were too dull for this, so he improvised on the spot like the time an actor burst into tears during a performance for his ninth birthday when he forgot his lines in front of the royal family. “I like to think about it like it’s stardust. You know, like your freckles.”

Noctis glanced up when their was an extended period of silence, furrowing his brows when he noticed how red Prompto’s face was, even considering the sun burn. “Are you okay? You look sick.”

“I’m fine,” Prompto choked out, waving a hand for him to go on. “Don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t believe him one bit, but he figured that Prom would tell him in his own time if he wanted to. “So, think of it as something happy that’s in the air. You probably already have a bunch of it stored up just from being so closed to me all the time, so all you gotta do is call it out.”

On cue, thunder cracked loudly in his palm before breaking up into thousands of little electric shocks, dissipating into the air in a clash of golden light.

Prompto oohed and awed, watching the thunder fade with a look of complete awe. “My turn!”

Holding his hand out, he closed his eyes only for a moment before switching his gaze to him, just keeping eye contact with him for a long moment before smiling softly, eyes closing one more.

With the sound of crystals cracking, a protect spell flickered in his hand, a perfect little dome forming over his palm.

“You did it!” He clapped, throwing himself over Prompto’s lap to admire the protect spell more closely. “It’s so pretty…”

“What does it do?” Prompto raised the little dome to eye level, eyeing the flickering shape with uncertainty.

Instead of answering, he called forth a plastic knife from the container he kept in the armiger for meals, stabbing down on the protect spell with single minded intensity, completely ignoring Prompto’s shrieks as he tried to pull away in time.

The knife hit the protect spell with a wave of static, and his elbow jerked back uncomfortably as it rebounded back, knocking him right onto his back and one leg awkwardly dangling in the water. It took a moment, but he was able to sit up again with a smile and a slightly bruised wrist. “That!”

“Did you really have to stab it though.”

“Duh.”

The protect spell dissipated, Prompto’s attention flagging before it broke into a ray of crystalline light. “But why does magic work like this? It’s making my head hurt.”

“Mine too.” Noctis tapped his chin, staring off at the approaching Tenebrae with a mixed look. “Dad used to tell me bedtime stories about the astrals, stuff like how Bahamut - he’s the leader of them, if you’re wondering - gave the first King of Lucis the ability to cast magic through the crystal. But the crystals hugeee, and humans are so tiny that we have to radiate the excess or else we’ll probably implode.”

Noctis narrowed his eyes, and just for the briefest moments he could see through the crystal’s ‘gift’. It was like a 3D map had gone 2D, the way his vision fluctuated and lit up in sharp blues and reds against the greyness. Prompto was an unhealthy mix of red and blue, and with a little magic push the blue spiked, but the sudden dizziness and Syldra’s disapproval in the back of his head warded off any more attempts before he went into stasis. The water around them was mostly grey with hints of red, but _Tenebrae_.

Zoldara Henge was practically glowing a soft azure, and a part of him whispered something like home.

Then the crystal’s temporary bond rebounded and snapped, and he was left back to the three of them again, colors bleeding back in slowly in all their radiance. But the blue remained glowing for just a moment longer, a spark in the distance.

“So you gave me some of the excess?” Prompto’s question snapped him out of thoughts, and he quickly pasted a smile on before jumping back into the impromptu history lesson.

“Not exactly,” He hummed, trying to explain it as best it can. “If I would rate you, it would be Crownsguard, not Kingsglaive. Crownsguard are the people who spend enough time around me or dad - or, around the Citadel, I guess. They can use magic and the arsenal because they absorb the magic we leak and store it up instead. Kingsglaive are the ones who we actually _give_ magic too, and that’s why they’re more powerful. But...we can’t know them.”

Prompto tilted his head, a silent request for him to continue.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on them with an unfocused gaze. “It can kill the Kingsglaive, being around our magic and already holding pieces of it. So we have to keep them out, and can’t tell them either, because they don’t get it. They’ll just implode if they soak in too much. The things that make up so special can literally kill us, isn’t that funny?”

There was a moment of silence, but then he heard the sounds of movement, and the familiar smell of gun oil and vanilla was everywhere. He felt so small being curled up in Prompto’s side, but it was a good kind of small. The kind of small where he didn’t feel like the eyes of the crowd were going to swallow him up.

 

Eventually, Syldra pulled up in the back of someone’s fancy mansion, right up next to a private dock. The house was all dark, so he felt safe being hoisted up on the wood and petting Syldra’s head for a few moments.

“Where will you go now?” He asked, listening with half an ear to Prompto unpacking everything. The sun was beginning to make signs of the approaching dawn, and he was exhausted from staying up all night out of complete panic that he would fall straight off the dragon and drown in the ocean the instant he fell asleep.

Syldra head butted his hand fondly, and he scritched right behind her ear where she seemed to enjoy it most. “ _I would like to see more of the sea, if I may._ ”

Noctis shrugged, but he was smiling all the same. “I don't give you orders, you know. Have fun though, and be careful!”

She sang a few words of comfort in his head before disappearing under the water line, and he watched the shape of her body for as long as he could until she faded away into submersion.

“What now?” Prompto sat next to him with a thump, half of a cereal bar sticking out of his mouth. It was a lucky charms flavor one, and he only had to hold out his hand before Prompto handed it over with a grin.

“Luna,” He said in between bites. “We should probably sneak in to say hi, make sure she knows I’m not dead like the news said. Only problem: she’s under imperial watch. And her brother’s a jerk.”

“I don’t how those things are related -”

“But first we’re catching a nap, because I’m so tired I think my eyes are going to fall out.” He interrupted unknowingly, too lost in his own exhaustion. “Good plan?”

Considering Prompto’s words were slurring for the past two hours, and the slow way he nodded, then it was probably a yes and not just a ‘I’m not fully here so my answers can’t be accounted for’ kind of nod.

“To Zoldara Henge!” Prompto tried to muster up some cheer, pointing towards the general direction of the city, but all he could do was weakly cheer back before being helped back into his summoned wheelchair.

“You ever been here before?” The blond boy leaned more against his chair rather than push it across the walkway that wrapped around the edge of the house, barely even noticing when Noctis unlocked the gate so he didn’t bump straight into it.

“Not really,” Noctis leaned back in the chair as they emerged out into a communal area, if a real fancy one. “I mean, I’ve been to Fenestala Manor before, but I wasn’t allowed past the gardens. Luna tried sneaking me out once so we could see her favorite shop, but Ravus was a big jerk and told on us. So…kinda?”

“Hmm,” Prompto nodded distractedly, and Noctis wondered how many levels of illegal would it be if they spent the night in one of the treehouses the mansions around them obviously had a fondness for. And would they get caught, was the real question.

Probably, he realized with a disappointed sigh. And they looked comfy too. 

The spent the rest of the ride in staggering silence, both of them too focused on staying awake. Noctis was having an especially hard time, with the even road and the slight rocking of the boat practically humming him straight to sleep.

He managed to at least peer his eyes open as they reached the downtown area across another section of bridges, only a couple blocks from where they docked, if only to find a hotel. The wheelchair slowed to a stop among the morning crowd heading to work, and he half leaned out of his chair to eye the expansive city around them with wide eyes.

“Hey Prompto, do you think -” He cut himself off when he looked behind him and realized one thing with wide eyes.

But Prompto wasn’t there.

“Prompto?” He raised his voice more urgently, spinning in the wheelchair as best he could, bracing himself up to stare at the crowd around him. “Prompto!”

But he was alone, and terror darkened his vision a deep black. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t _breathe_ -

 

Prompto was lost.

“Noct?” He cried out desperately, pushing through the crowd and ignoring the pitying looks sent his way as no one tried to help him. “ _Noct_!”

He could feel his breath coming in faster and faster and faster, terror lighting him up inside till he he was a storm, a tempest, an unstoppable force all in one. _Noct Noct **Noct**_ \- he could get hurt he could be upset he could die and nothing nothing nothing Prompto did would help him because he was _lost_ and the only person who mattered in this entire planet was all by himself in a foreign city and -

_“Faster.”_

_He kept firing at the target with a blank mind, hitting the bulls eye each time with an unblinking gaze._

_“Faster.”_

_He had to to keep shooting, he couldn’t fail this test._

_“Faster.”_

_Noctis was smiling at him, Carbuncle casually sprawled across his lap._

_“Faster.”_

_Mister Ardyn handing him the promise that he would return with red ears.  
“F - - as -- r” _

_Boko and Cecillia and Syldra and Carbuncle and Killer and - and -_

_“Pr - - pto”_

_Oh gods he wants to go home but where’s home home’s with -_

“Prompto.”  

He jerked his head up, staring at the puppy who just licked his face. At some point in his mental scramble, he had collapsed to the ground with his hands over his ears. Slowly, he let his hands fall, staring at the happily panting puppy all the while.

“You’re…tiny.” Was the only thing he could say, and the puppy woofed in agreement.

 

Too slow too slow too slow!

The wheelchair was too slow.

Noctis huffed, staring down at his lap for a moment before coming to a silent agreement. Carbuncle was perched on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheeks every few moments in an effort to calm him down, but how could he calm down when nobody could find Prompto?!

“Up you go,” He murmured, bracing himself on the handlebars and hoisting himself to his feet. Instantly, his legs threatened to give out on him, but he made do with heavily leaning on the wall of the building next to him. He couldn’t call the wheelchair to him when he was in the middle of the walkway surrounded by people, not without alerting half the population that he was the Lucian Prince, so he would have to leave it behind.

Carbuncle growled, and he got the distinct feeling his phone was buzzing in the arsenal, next to Prompto’s phone to keep it dry over the trip across the sea. But he didn’t bother to check, not now.

Craning his head, he gazed up at Fenestala Manor in the distance, towering over the downtown area in its sheer size and beauty, the Niflheim’s red flag draped over where Tenebrae’s royal purple used to lay.  

Luna. Luna would help him.

Slowly, he stumbled his way deeper into the capital.

 

“Wait up!” Prompto panted over bent knees, cursing his softness over the last several weeks. Tiny yipped at him, running back and forth before she realized he needed a break from sprinting towards the giant manor in the distance. “I…uggh…”

Tiny nudged at his knees, and he plummeted on his bottom to the hard sidewalk, his butt stinging sharply from the harsh fall.

“I’m sorry,” He managed to say to the overeager puppy. “I’m...I’m just sorry.”

Useless useless useless _useless_ -

A shadow fell over him, and every hair on his body stood up as he heard the sound of wind chimes, something inside him screaming DANGER DANGER DON’T APPROACH DANGER -

Something like Noct’s presence settled over him, and calm washed through his body. Slowly, he raised his head, and met eyes with the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

 

After an eternity, his legs gave out on him, sending him toppling to the ground in a heap. Nausea swirled in his throat, and he gagged out the remains of his breakfast on the sidewalk. Noctis braced himself on his forearms and shoved himself up, but his legs were shaking so much that there was no way he was getting any further.

Despair hit him then, seeping into every part of him until he was choking on it. He was paralyzed from the waist down all of two weeks ago, alone, and no way to get any further on his own. None of his guardians or magic could help him freaking _walk_ , it was all so useless.

He was useless.

So, so, so useless. What’s the point of it?

Before he realized it, his arms were wet. He blinked, but it only caused them to get wetter as the rain hit them.

Oh. He was crying.

Something wet rummaged through his hair, and he peeked up shyly at the creature standing in front of him.

“Umbra?!”

 

The lady didn’t say much, but she allowed him to cling to the edge of her dress and trail behind her, trying to make awkward conversation all the while.

“I’m Prompto, who are you?” He asked, peaking up to try and make eye contact. It seemed she was staring back at him with a fond smile, but she never opened her eyes. It was kinda creepy.

“I know who you are, young Prompto.” Her voice was like wind chimes echoing down the street. “I have been sent to guide you to the Oracle so that you and the young Prince may be reunited.”

He tilted his head. “Ora…Oracle. Oh! You mean Luna, right?”

She inclined her head, but didn’t say anything else.

“That’s cool and all, but what is your name?” He tugged on the scarf she had wrapped around her arms, a silent request for her to keep talking.

There was a moment of silence, but then - “I am Gentiana, the messenger of the Oracle, young Prompto.”

Prompto hummed, tossing the name around his mouth a couple of times like it was an especially sweet candy. “That’s a pretty name. Gentianas are flowers, right? Do you like flowers? I like flowers.”

If she seem startled by his rapid fire questions, she didn’t show it. “Yes, they are flowers. I picked the name with that in mind.”

“You picked your name?” Miss Gentiana didn’t show any outward reaction to his question, but he rolled the scarf a couple times around his wrist in case she tried to dump him somewhere because of his unprompted questions. “That’s pretty cool. I picked mine too, it means ‘quicksilver’.”

“You misspelled it,” She pointed out, but he got the sense she found it amusing. “Argent would be the correct grammar for the name.”

He blushed. “Well - Well I like it better this way! It sounds kinda like Noct’s last name, the little ‘ummm’ at the end, right? Oh! Did you know his name means ‘light of the night sky’? Because that’s pretty cool, and fits him pretty well, but I know if he had his way he would be called Noct Gar for the rest of his life.”

There was a distinct moment of complete quiet. “Forget all of what I just said.”

At least Miss Gentiana didn’t look fazed with his rambles, but rather…fond? It was hard to say, her expressions look like she was actively using them rather than them having unconsciously happen, which was a bit creepy now that he thought about it.

“You and the young Prince are good friends, yes?” She asked after another moment where they just walked through the thinning streets.

He hummed in agreement. “Best friends.” He corrected with a grin, and her lips quirked up.

“Lend me a promise, then.” Miss Gentiana stopped in the middle of the road, finally opening her eyes to look at him. And…he couldn’t help the little blush in his ears. She was really pretty, okay?! Almost as pretty as Noct, but Noct won everything by the default of being awesome and the best person ever.

“Okay,” He squeaked, and was instantly mortified. Okay, time to die.

Miss Gentiana turned to look at him, and her face was once again impassive. But her eyes - no wonder she kept them closed, you could read the whole galaxy in them.

“With the power granted to you by the twenty four,” She crouched down to her level, ignoring how he practically jumped out of his skin. “Protect the Prince and the Oracle in all that you may. Others may not like you defying fate like you have, so be warned.”

There was something in her hand, a shiny crystal maybe? Either way, she took his hand and dropped the - yep, those are two crystals attached to different strings - in his own.

She closed his hand around the crystals with both of hers, just holding him there for a moment longer. Then, she climbed to her feet and smiled at him one last time, her eyes closed once more.

“May the stars guide your path forevermore.” She whispered, and then she was gone the instant he blinked.

Prompto stared at where she once was, his head darting back and forth to the occasional straggler and to the spot where Miss Gentiana just was.

Magic. Honestly.

“Prom!” His head whipped up, his heart in his throat. And then he was running, the street vanishing under his feet towards his best friend.

‘Noct’ the whisper was like a prayer, and warm arms encircled around his waist as he flung himself on top of the other boy.

He was home.

 

“I missed you.” Noct murmured from where Prompto was wrapped around him like a Malboro. He tucked his head under his chin, taking a shaky breath and just relishing in the quiet of the moment. “Even though it was only about half an hour, I never want to do that again.”

Prompto’s exhale was just as fragile as he felt. “Agreed.”

It was a long time before they could manage to separate, and even still they kept their hands linked. No one was getting lost again.

“I met this strange lady, Miss Gentiana,” Prompto began, but stopped at Noctis' open mouthed expression. “You know her?”

Noctis hurriedly closed his jaw. “She’s the high messenger - she’s basically the boss of Carbuncle and the rest of the guardians. But she’s also Luna’s only friend besides her dumb brother, so I guess she’s pretty cool.”

“That is pretty cool,” Prompto nodded his head, before revealing what he held in his clenched fist. “She gave me these, I don’t know what they are, though.”

He poked at them, but all he could was that they were two pieces of string - if nice ones at least - each with half of a crystal attached. Quite literally half, the crystal looked like it got chopped straight down, which was both cool and scary.

“Friendship bracelets?” He offered shyly, plucking one from Prompto’s hand. He turned it around shyly, before adding it to the belt of the kimono, clumsily tying it so that it looped against his thigh, the crystal banging against it every time he moved. Prompto eyed the remaining one for a moment longer before simply looping it around his neck, underneath Ardyn’s scarf.

Both of them admired their recent additions, Noctis even flouncing in his spot a bit as if to show off to an invisible audience, or to Umbra. Turning his head, he caught a flash of peach behind Prompto’s back before he was nearly knocked off his feat by the dog’s enthusiastic head butting.

“Pryna!” He cried, petting the dog happily. “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Pryna?” Prompto repeated, crouching down next to the pale dog and stroking one of her ears. “Is that her name? I was just calling her Tiny.”

“Tiny’s a cuter name anyhow.”

Umbra and Pryna butted heads briefly, letting the two kids pet them a moment longer before disappearing down the street, a silent urge for them to follow to the towering building right across the bridge, a center in the middle of the oasis.

Fenestala Manor.

_Luna._

“C’mon.” He said out loud, linking his pinkie with Prompto’s as they both stared at the heavily guarded former seat of power. “Time for me to introduce two of the most amazing people in the world to each other.”

 

"Ah, lovely Tenebrae." The man finished the rest of his drink, keeping an eye on the street. The high messenger barely glanced at him before vanishing, obviously dismissing him as a threat. That alone would have called violence to his veins, but now it was only a tempered simmer in his blood. "What a beautiful country." 

Despite his best will, a smile cracked on his face when he saw the two children reunited. Loathed as he was to have the messengers help, he couldn't well interfere now could he? 

But still, the place where his heart once was ached seeing the Prince spew all over the sidewalk, or how the MT's mind nearly snapped in half if it weren't for that damned mutt. He had no idea what the cursed high messenger wanted with her little test on separating the two children, but she seemed pleased with the results. 

Heartless, the lot of them. 

Ardyn tossed the money for the drink on the table, tipping his hat towards the hostess before exiting the restaurant. His phone buzzed in his pocket, no doubt his secretary once again leaving a voicemail at him. Knew he shouldn't have burnt all that paperwork, but Astrals did it make him want to commit homicide more than the whole Lucian betrayal bloodline combined. 

Damned children, making him worry like this. Look at him going soft, it was disgusting. 

Yet he couldn't help the warmth in his chest watching them. So very disgusting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... 
> 
> I think this is the first time since the first chapter I didn't need to post a link to a summon o(〃＾▽＾〃)o It's not like the duo didn't meet any, more that they didn't meet any new ones.


	9. NEW PLAYER: Lunafreya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lunafreya is introduced with much needed chaos, Noctis is cranky without seven naps a day, Prompto is totally not in awe over how pretty everyone is, Ardyn is so tired of his kids shit, and the exasperated secretary once again makes a reluctant appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi im dead inside how are all of you

This was officially turning out to be both simultaneously the best and worst day of his life. 

Because A. getting separated from Prompto was probably the worst experience to ever exist in the entire history of mankind, but also B. he’s finally getting to meet Luna again, which was awesome beyond words. 

“So how old is Lady Lunafreya?” Prompto asked him as they waited in a closet for the newest wave of MT guards to pass by. Not many people wandered this far into the manor, so Prompto only kept a silent count by tapping on his knees instead of forcing him to cast Stopcast every few feet (the world was kinda fuzzy with black dots at the edges, now that he thought about it, better stop casting so often without an elixir, but he didn’t  _ have  _ any elixirs so he had to make do). 

Noctis wiped his forehead, smiling weakly at the blond when he got a concerned look for his evident exhaustion. “Uh… thirteen now, I think? Her birthday is actually only a couple weeks from now, actually. Why you asking?” 

Prompto flipped open his phone - that Noctis gave back almost the instant they reunited - and showed him the text from Ardyn, who had decidingly calmed down from calling them every fifteen minutes to check on them after Prompto threatened to block him (he wouldn't actually, but the threat still worked). “He says girls have cooties.” 

He made a face. “What’s that?” Noctis took the phone, reading over the message a couple more times, but the pre-paid phone still denied him the secrets of the universe no matter how much he pleaded with it. 

“Maybe she’s sick?” He couldn’t help the snort at that, handing back the phone as Prompto’s taps gradually slowed down, signaling them that it’s time to go. 

“Luna’s too cool to get sick. One time, the entire manor was down with this yucky stomach bug, even Ravus got sick! But not Luna, she’s too amazing to get sick.” 

Even Prompto looked suitably impressed, as he should be. 

Picking themselves up, Noctis let himself be hoisted into the other boy’s arms up with only a small scowl. Small! He was just…really tired, okay. 

At least Prompto didn’t point out he was short all the time, like a certain stupid Shield. 

They traveled through the light blue and white hallways at a snail’s pace, crouching behind every unnecessary table with a vase and curtain there was. Four more rounds of MTs passed them by as they ascended the stairs higher and higher, growing fewer in number each time. 

Noctis’ legs still wobbled dangerously when he was tried to climb  _ one _ flight of stairs by himself, so he just tucked his face into Carbuncle’s fur and tried not to cry. 

Naturally, as the rest of his guardians started panicking over his overtired self in desperate need of a nap, so did Prompto. 

“Noct! Are you okay? Do you need water? Food? We have both because you have freaky time space breaking powers that I’ve been ignoring so I don’t have to cry over all the broken sciencey rules, so maybe not. Sleep?” At his tired nod, Prompto squeezed him in a tighter hug, struggling to heft him up those final stairs when Noctis knew for a fact that he was exhausted too. It was only when they finally reached the top floor of the familiar tower did he let everyone get the recommended amount of fussing in, despite his insistence that he _was fine just cranky really guys_ _why do you have to be this way._

Find Luna first, maybe some hugs, and then nap time. Astrals, he wished one of his guardians was big enough so that could carry him around instead of the opposite. How cool would that be?

~~Later on, he heavily regret wishing for that.~~

Two MTs were guarding the only door on this floor, their imposing weapons making not a sound as they stared straight ahead at nothing. After what felt like three hours (or two minutes) both of them came to the exhausting realization. 

They weren’t moving.

“Ughhh,” Prompto threw his head back dramatically, actually physically toppling over so he landed on his back right on the hard tile. His gaze only screamed ‘why me’ at the ceiling. “Can’t anything go right for once?” 

Noctis awkwardly crouched down next to him, patting him on the head, not that sympathetic. “It is kinda our luck though, it would be more weird is  _ something _ didn’t go wrong.” 

“True.” Prompto sighed, climbing to his feet slowly and helping Noctis get to his own once they both realized he was going down one way or the other. “Maybe just pass me Ragnarok and I’ll just stab them?”

He gave him an unimpressed look. “ _ Can _ you stab them?” 

“...Maybe?” 

“....” 

“Don’t sigh at me like that!” 

Mentally flipping through his options, he quickly crossed out Carbuncle and Cecilia, both of them specialized in healing magic, not kicking two MTs butts. And then Ragnarok, because neither of them could actually _stab_ things, guns and magic aside. So that left Boko, Killer, Cactuar, and Syldra. 

Syldra was a Lapis, so that was a no. Both Boko and Killer were tiny but powerful™, but also a bit slow (he ignored the slightly offended squawk somewhere in the back of his head) so that left… Cactuar. 

Bracing himself, he lifted his hand and hoped that Cactuar would be strong and fast enough to do this. 

Cactuar came with a rush that smelled like both those grass fields that were taller than himself and car gas, oddly enough. Prompto stared as Cactuar bounced out of his arms and right in front of the two MTs, who were too slow to react to the weird dance Prompto was slowly trying to imitate next to him. 

“Go!” Noctis pumped his fist excitedly as Catuar finally did one last dance, a flash of what looked like thousands of spikes, and -  _ holy mother of Astrals.  _

“Remind me not to get on Cactuar’s bad side.” Prompto squaked, poking his toe into the utterly destroyed MT. And by utterly destroyed, he meant that there were a few pieces of scrap metal and that was literally all that was left of the carnage. 

“I’m a little impressed, actually.” Noctis hummed, letting Cactuar dance back into wherever the rest of the guardians were chilling (except for Carbuncle, the fox guardian was undeniably his favorite and thus draped himself like a scarf around him at all times). “Maybe we should rename them Killer instead.” 

Prompto shuddered. “How about no?” 

Noctis laughed, limping with Prompto’s help over to Luna’s door. He rapped against the stylish wood three times in a row, before pausing and knocking twice. “Secret code,” He explained shortly before he heard a gasp on the other side. 

Then: “P-Prince Noctis?!” 

“Yep.” 

The door was thrown open, and he only had a glimpse of startled blue eyes before he was quite literally tackled. 

Wow, Luna should persuade a career in sports if she was this heavy of a hitter. 

Prompto went toppling down with him, letting out a startled high-pitched shriek as Luna sent them bowling over, practically strangling him in this weird embrace/body slam. 

Blond hair flew into his vision, and uh oh. She looked  _ pissed _ . 

“You had me worried sick!” Luna scowled, fiercely squishing his cheeks together until he looked like a fish (and sounded like one too). “First, you don’t send the notebook back for like three weeks. Three weeks! That’s breaking the honored code of a week at most, we signed a  _ contract _ .” 

Oh yeah, he remembers the contract both of them had sighed in colored pencil on the last page of the notebook. He had chosen blue, because it was the prettiest color, duh, while Luna had kept with an electric orange for reasons she had only mumbled ‘rebellion’ for when he asked. 

“And then!” She sat off his chest, pointing her index finger at him in a scary clone of his old nursemaid. “And then! You go missing and everyone thinks you’re dead. What am I supposed to do?!” 

It was at that moment she seemed to realize he wasn’t alone, drawing a veil of politeness back around her once more. “Oh, hello there, I’m sorry I didn’t see you. I’m Lunafreya, and you are?” 

“P-Prompto.” His friend stuttered back, looking a little red in the face. Was he sick? “It’s nice to meet you, your highness.” 

Luna waved a hand, the other one pressed daintily against her mouth. “No longer a princess, I’m afraid, but it’s very nice to meet you.”

Noctis climbed to his feet, eying the both of them as they exchanged slightly stiff greetings. Nope, no can do. His two best friends are going to be best friends as well, or  _ so help him _ . 

“Well,” He scratched the back of his neck, forgetting that poor Carbuncle who had been almost squashed there when Luna tackled him was still curled around his neck like a scarf. “The adventure to get here was really fun, and the story is even better, but I’m like really tired and if I don’t take a nap soon I’m probably gonna pass out.” 

Both of them turned to him in scary sync, the same gleam in their eyes that just screamed that the ‘fuss over Noct’ alarm had been tripped. 

Prompto scooped him up in his arms the same instant Luna started pressing a hand against his forehead, smoothing his hair back once she confirmed he didn’t have a fever. “The newest rounds of guards doesn’t come for another six hours.” She explained as she urged them into her room, closing the door behind them swiftly. “Plenty of time for a nap. Or three.” 

The door opened to a sitting room, not unlike his own quarters back in Insomnia except for more light colors. There was a book half open on the coffee table, what looked like a half finished cup of tea, and about a million pieces of paper. 

Literally. He was kinda afraid a light breeze would cover all the walls with boring paper print. 

“Uh,” Her face was squeezed into an embarrassed grin. “Ignore that?” 

Considering the sheer amount of blackmail she had on him, he kept his mouth shut. 

There were a couple doors off the sitting room, with what he knew basically formed its own little apartment, but Luna only led them into her own bedroom, the maids not having the chance to clean it yet, evidentially. 

When Prompto dropped him on the humongous bed, he patted the comforter on either side of him expectantly. “Nap with me, both of you!” 

When neither of them looked like they were going to join him and instead awkwardly shuffling in their place, he pulled out his ultimate weapon. 

Not even a minute into staring at both of them with watering eyes did Luna crack. He blamed the fact she hasn’t seen them in action in something like two years. 

“I’ll go get my pyjamas.” She whispered, blindly stumbling to her dresser as he finally noticed just how uncomfortable her dress looked - and how red it was. She doesn’t even like that color, the jerks. 

Luna slipped away to the bathroom while Noctis pulled out his and Prompto’s pair from the armiger. The other boy was still obviously hesitating, fiddling with his holster under his baggy sweater.

“Pleaseeeeees?” He drew out the word showing off the bright yellow pajamas with a chocobo on it to Prom. The other pair was hidden behind him, for the surprise factor. 

Finally, the blond gave in. Took him long enough. “Fine.” He snapped shortly, though there was no real anger in it. 

Prompto kept his back to him as both of them changed in their pjs, despite the other boy having literally helped in changing him before. 

Well, all the better for his surprise. 

When Prompto turned around at his verbal cue that he was done, there was an immediate scowl on his face. 

“Haha, very funny. But no.” 

“But yes.” Noctis’ grin split his face into two as he showed off his tonberry pjs, something he bought way before Killer even joined the crew. 

There were several knocks on the bedroom door, and then Luna peeked her head in. “You guys ready - _ those pajamas are the cutest things ever. _ ” 

“I  _ know _ .” 

She squeezed past Prompto, her own nightgown a boring light purple. It wasn’t until she was closer that he could see the little moogles sown rebelliously into the hem. “I want one! But maybe another kind, so we can all match. Where did you get it?” 

Noctis lit up as she casually climbed in next to him, her back to the window as she went to tuck the comforter around both of them, but she still left an obvious spot in the bed reserved for Prompto on the other side. “Oh, we got it in Alitissa.” 

Luna watched him for several moments before sighing and letting her head drop on the pillow. “I’m questioning you first thing after the nap, mister. First thing!” 

He nodded, figuring as much. Prompto was still lingering in his peripherals, but it was only when he made eye contact and motioned for him to join him that the other boy finally crawled in on the other side of him, his back to the door and the gun holster set on the bedside table. 

The former princess eyed the gun, but there’s was nothing betraying anything but curiosity in her gaze when she glanced back at him. 

Under the covers, both of his hands grabbed each of his friend’s own hands. One was dotted with callouses that were slowly becoming more and more familiar, a cold thumb brushing over his knuckle softly. The other was soft, longs fingers wrapping around the entirety of his palm, but he still noted the strange texture of her palms, like a burn wound left untreated. 

Both of them squeezed his hands, and he fell asleep with a small smile on his face. 

 

Three hours later, Luna watched him with a stunned expression on her face as he explained his adventures so far, hands waving to illustrate the point. 

“Okay, so.” She stopped just to watch Boko trot across the bed, having summoned herself into existence like both her and Carbuncle were prone to do. “Just…wow.” 

Noctis nodded empathetically along. Yeah, that was kinda what he was feeling too.  

“So what happens when you collect all of the messengers? Guardians.” She clarified at his confused look. 

“I…uh…actually don’t know.” Noctis played with his fingers shyly, glancing over to Prompto for support. His absolute jerk of his best friend was ignoring him though, paging through his and Luna’s notebook with a curious gleam in his eyes he didn’t have the heart to break. 

Luna stiffened up, then, her mouth pinched in a thin line. “I may have a hypothesis on that, actually.” 

“...” 

“A theory.” 

Noctis leaned in Prompto’s side, faux whispering into his ear. “She really likes using big words, but don’t let it fool you, she doesn’t understand what they mean half the time.” 

Prompto giggled, loudly. Luna didn’t deny it, crossing her arms with a pout and stoutly ignoring both of them until her curiosity won over once more. “You remember the stories I used to read to you?” 

The blond perked up at them, silently shutting the notebook to turn his attention to the conversation as Noctis perked up. “Yeah! Miss Maria made the best hot cocoa during those stories, and Dad used to have to carry me back to my room because I kept falling asleep.” 

“I think they may be connected to that.” She didn’t offer much more of an explanation than that, biting on her thumb nail in deep thought. 

He tried to remember the exact specifics of those stories, but they slipped away like sand through his fingers. He knew he was more focused on how Luna’s voice sounded with every word, the warmth of the fireplace in the very same sitting room all three of them were currently sprawled in, Miss Maria’s hot cocoa with a candy cane and so many marshmallows that they were practically overflowing, his Dad laughing when he once again fell asleep propped up against Luna’s side. 

The urging pressure of his bladder reminded him it wasn’t exactly the best time to remisinse, even if they were warm memories. Excusing himself to the bathroom, he staggered his way towards the door, trying not to die a thousand deaths when both of them actually jumped to his feet when it looked like he was going to trip. 

_ Astrals _ , his best friends were such mother hens. 

Washing his hands, he stopped right before leaving the bathroom when he heard the soft murmur of voices from the sitting room. 

“...Keep him safe.” That was Luna. 

“Of course! He’s my best friend.” 

“And mine.”

“Well he was my best friend first.” 

“Uh, nope! My best friend first.”

…. Yeah, he better get out there before it turned into a fist fight. And while Prompto could heft him up in the air easily, Luna could probably pick both him  _ and _ Prompto up with one arm. She was like twice his weight now. 

“That reminds me!” He said way too loudly as he exited the bathroom. “Do you have any of those sweets in your kitchen? The ones Miss Maria made us after physical therapy?” 

Noctis’ face fell before she even spoke. “Sorry Noct, I can’t eat anything unless the head of staff improves it. They - fired, Miss Natans.”

With the way Luna said the word ‘fired’, it was obvious Miss Natans didn’t have a choice in being evicted from her position. 

“Can’t we just get them from the actual kitchen, then?” Prompto cocked his head in genuine confusion. 

Luna and Noctis looked at each other. Well….It’s not like Prompto was wrong, per sae… 

“Adventure time it is!” Luna pumped her fist excitedly, and Noctis felt a deep shiver go through his bones. 

_ Oh, crap.  _

 

They sneaked out back the way they came, dressed in more comfortable clothes and a bag slung over Luna’s shoulder. Speaking of the girl, she had an excited grin on her face as they crept through the deserted hallways, who's knowledge of the manor to get into the servant’s corridors was absolutely vital. 

Her sneakers made near silent click sounds against the tile floor as they sneaked through the cramped servant’s corridors. As this was an adventure, they had of course packed for the road, including several changes of clothes and snacks. He had offered to stick it in the arsenal, but she had made ‘bip bip’ noises and that was that. 

“Ooh,” Prompto plastered his face against a nearby window, thus nearly smacking Noctis’s head against the glass because the dark haired boy was perched on his back. “You guys actually have gardens?!” 

Noctis sent him a deadpan look through their reflection. “Prom, we met each other in the Citadel gardens.” 

“Oh yeahhhhh.” 

Luna popped her head over Prompto’s other shoulder easily, as she towered over both of them menacingly. “Wanna go visit them? We’ll have to sneak past the guards, though.” 

Noctis cracked his knuckles. “Easy peasy.” 

It actually was super easy. What is his life. 

There was one human guard and three MTs, something the three of them tackled with ease when two out of the three were in the top five for the most magically gifted people on the planet, and the other one was an actual assassin, but you know, semantics. 

The fight mostly involved Noctis cheering as Cactuar utterly demolished two of the MTs, Prompto shooting the other one before it could even react, and Luna casting one of her few semi-offensive spells that simply knocked the human guard unconscious. 

“You know,” Noctis started off, ignoring Prompto’s muttered ‘oh boy’ with a quick pinch on his ear. “Why doesn’t your magic allow you to do simple offense? Or mine to do healing? Because  _ believe  _ me, Dad tried to teach me how to make a potion out of a pot of tea and it broke a window. Don’t ask.” 

“I…actually have no idea.” Luna shrugged, sparking her own healing magic to her hands before letting the soft glow slowly die off. A sad look passed over her eyes, but it passed as she clenched her fists stubbornly and shoved them in her short pockets. “I’m not allowed to read any of my - my - mother’s books, so I actually don’t know much about these things besides what she used to tell  _ me  _ as bedtime stories, funny enough.”  

The three of them stepped out into the gardens, the soft cry of the birds soaring up ahead. It was kinda funny, in a bit of a nostalgic way, that the gardens was where he met Prompto, and now here he was with Luna, something he never thought would happen again in a million years. 

Things were weird. Life was weird. 

He breathed in the sharp smell of the greens that could only be found in Tenebrae, Prompto’s fading gunpowder and something he now realized was daemon magic, Luna’s particular brand of ozone smelling magic, and - 

Noctis lit up. 

“Papa!” He yelled into the deep greenery, waving his arm frantically above Prompto’s head. “I missed you! Where have you been?!” 

There was a pointed moment of silence, before Noctis heard rustling from deeper into the gardens and a familiar fedora ducked out from underneath a tree. 

Prompto abruptly let go one of his thighs to wave at Ardyn, forcing Noctis to scramble up his back before Luna took over the much needed support. “Papa! Wait, have you been following us this entire time? That’s kinda creepy dude.” 

Ardyn didn’t answer, and for the first time he realized he was glaring at Luna.  _ Glaring _ . Who even does that? 

“ _ Oracle _ ,” He practically sneered, and Luna drew up to her full height next to Noctis, which made him recall that girls hit their growth spurts first, and Luna had four years on him. Holy. 

“Not Oracle yet,  _ Chancellor _ .” Luna sneered right back, and both of the boy’s heads were darting back and forth like a demented game of ping pong. 

Wait. 

“You’re the Chancellor?! Of Niflheim?!” 

  
  


 

 

Viera groaned in dismay at the unfinished pile of paperwork on her boss’s desk, and especially at the note on top. 

_ Off to handle a family emergency, cover for me won’t you? Toodles ~ _

She really, really hated her boss some days. “You’re the freaking Chancellor of Niflheim! How the hell am I going to cover for you?!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no guardians this time around;;; sadness. ALSO I REALLY LOVE LUNA SHES MY GIRL. 
> 
> While I feel like canon deprived her of the opportunity for her to reach full potential and she ended up pretty static, I wanted to explore the Luna Noctis remembered so fondly from childhood, of a girl who tries wearing shoes to big for her to fit in and acts older than she actually is which hysterical results. 
> 
> So this is a note; this isn't twenty four year old Luna who's come to terms with fate, but a thirteen year old girl dealing with loss just like Noctis is and isn't ready to grow up yet. 
> 
> Mini rant over, I'M SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT let me just put that out there


	10. Would you like to join the party: Yes or Yes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which nothing much happens except to build up for the next chapter, Luna and Prompto bond over their mutual intense built up violent urges, Ardyn begins to accept the fact that he is a Dad™️, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOCTIS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it’s been one year since I first published this. Holy. 
> 
> Let’s just ignore the fact that I haven’t updated this since February please

After, as Ravus liked to say when he thought Noctis and Luna weren’t listening, ‘shit hit the fan’, they sat themselves down under one of the shaded trees to have a ‘civilized’ talk.

Both Prompto and Noctis wiggled uncomfortably, neither of them managing to keep the grimace off their faces as Luna and Ardyn stared off at each other.

By stare, he meant glare. And wow, okay, top ten experiences he never wanted to happen ever again, both of them are terrifying when they put their minds to it.

“So…” Prompto coughed into his hand awkwardly, and Noctis thanked every astral in the sky that his best friend had literally the strongest guts known to man. “You’re the chancellor of the empire that killed Luna’s mom?”

Ardyn made a face. “Well…yes.”

Now even Prompto was glaring. “Mister _Ardyn_!” Oh no, Ardyn was in the dog house if the papa nickname was thrown out the window. “Say you’re sorry, right now!”

“W-what?” Ardyn choked, looking like Prompto was the weirdest thing he’s ever seen. Noctis could relate, he got that look a lot, especially from his dad every time he covered his toast in marshmallow fluff, sprinkles, and nothing else. What? It was tasty. “Saying sorry would do nothing to help the situation!”

Luna just lifted her chin stubbornly and refused to say anything.

“Yes it would!” Please don’t start crying please don’t start crying please don’t - “So just -”

Prompto started crying, and once again, ‘shit hit the fan’.

“I’m sorry,” He blubbered as Noctis bowled him over in a hug, rocking his best friend with the nastiest glare he had at both Luna and Ardyn. “I just hate people fighting.”

‘Fix this’ He mouthed, and with his free hand made a slitting motion over his throat with another nasty look.

“I apologize for taking over your homeland in Niflheim’s conquest.” Ardyn finally said stiffly, looking anywhere but at Luna.

After a moment, Luna shifted so she was better facing Ardyn, but still kept her nose up in the air. “I accept your apology.”

Oof. _Oof._

That, at least, seemed to calm Prompto down from his earlier full blown crying. Sorrys were very sacred, even if they were really stiff and borderline painful.

“So,” Noctis finally said after Prom’s sobs settled to only an occasional sniffle. “Anyone still up for treats?”

Both Luna and Ardyn gave him the look, the kind of look that read ‘I know what you’re doing, and I see through all your paper thin BS’. Honestly, it was kind of terrifying how alike both of them were.

Annddddd and he made the mistake of saying it aloud, so they were back to glaring at each other.

“I don’t know what you’re doing near Noct or Prompto,” Luna very near snarled, raising up from sitting criss cross applesauce to give Ardyn another glare. “But if you hurt either of them so help me -”

Ardyn made a noise unlike a growl. “As if you’re one to talk, _Oracle_ -”

Oh, wow, Noctis could completely feel what Prompto was feeling earlier.

He bursted into tears.

Both of them jumped apart like their butts were on fire, gaze swinging between the now sobbing Prince and shaking blond, who was once again on the verge of tears as Noctis sniffled loudly.

“I’m a sympathetic crier and this is _stressful_!” Noctis wailed, letting Prompto bowl him over in another hug. “I don’t wanna fight anymore, can we not fight anymore?”

Prompto snuggled against his kimono, sniffing loudly. “No more fighting! Let’s - let’s go steal some tarts and maybe get to explore the city a little bit and not fight!”

Noctis wasn’t sure what expression Prompto was making, but both Luna and Ardyn straightened up like they had a ruler smacked on their spines.

“Okay, no more fighting, we just have to get along and...and…” Luna blinked rapidly, and dawning realization hit Noctis moments before she too bursted into tears. Which then made Noctis cry even harder, and then Prompto, not one to be left out of emotional train wrecks, joined soon after.

The whole time Ardyn stared off into the distance with the gaze of a dead man, his eyes empty of any emotion as the three kids continued to bawl into his trench coat. “Why, just...why.”

  


Ardyn chewed loudly, his gaze fixed on the three children, two royals (or one ex-royal, the Oracle was simply a Lady now rather than a Princess) and one MT, silently eating their own stolen snacks across the table from him.

The knocked out cook on the floor continued to snore loudly.

He wasn’t quite sure what he deserved in life at all for this punishment. Or anything he did really, you try to do one good thing and then you’re trapped as an immortal daemon for the rest of existence until the Chosen King finally comes around and stabs you a million times and then ascends into the astral plane and stabs you a million times once again.

Pleasant, really.

Both the Prince and his MT were looking a little sallow, if he was to be honest. The Oracle didn’t look much better, in all honesty, but he also wanted to throw her off the balcony and was only politely refraining due to present company. So, he’s not sure it counted.

(If the Prince and his MT started crying again _he_ was going to start crying.)

“How do you know the Chancellor?” The Oracle peeked through the corner of red rimmed eyes towards the Prince, who was stuffing three Tenebrae tarts in his mouth simultaneously. He paused, glancing at the Oracle with pink ears, before slowly swallowing.

Thank the Astrals the MT seemed to understand the Prince wasn’t going to be able to say anything for a while as he was busy trying not to choke. “We met Papa on the ship to Altissia, it was scary, the boat got attacked by daemons! But they went away and Papa got us an apartment in Altissia.”

Ardyn blinked rapidly, beating down the daemons inside of him that were all cooing over the MT and urging him to wrap both the kids in blankets. Many blankets. All the blankets.

His face felt flushed. Strange.

The Oracle gave him a measured look over her own tart, but didn’t say anything to him. He hated her and all that she stood for. Her excess magic felt like knives in his skin, digging deep into the marrow. While the MT’s magic was like a boiling over pot that had been slowly cooling as he spent more and more time around the Prince, the Lucis Caelum excess was bittersweet nostalgia that he both simultaneously rejected and longed for. “Why Papa though?”

“Because I’ve claimed him.” The MT puffed out its chest. “He’s good Papa material, so he’s now my Papa. And Noct’s too, Noct thinks its funny.”

The Prince just nodded, still stuffing an obscene amount of tarts in his mouth.

“See? Papa even gave me his scarf.” The MT lifted said scarf, and Ardyn’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a familiar crystal wrapped around its neck. If he wasn’t mistaken, the Prince had the same one hanging from his obijime, but perhaps it was just the current trend.

However… The crystals did feel intimately familiar, for reasons he couldn’t quite discern. It would come to him, he was sure.

“And I want another one.” Wait, what.

Ardyn glanced back over at the MT, who was pointing. Right at him. And his brand new scarf.

Which was made of the finest silks the empire had to offer, a thread count of over nine hundred, and cost him well over a quarter of a million Gil.

He handed it over without a word.

Something inside felt indefinitely pleased at the sight of the MT curling it’s chin under Ardyn’s scarf, winding the fabric around the one it already had loosely knotted at the nape of its neck.

Strange. Very strange indeed.

The Oracle was still watching them, licking the crumbs of the tart off her fingers. “Chancellor, a word?”

Ardyn grimaced, following after the whelp with no comments. He felt the Prince and his MT exchange looks behind him, but he ignored it for the moment to stand in the corner with the Oracle, who had crossed her arms angrily at him.

“Look, you did pretty shitty things - sorry for the bad word - but Noct and Prompto seem to like you.” Her blue eyes bore into him. “A lot. And you like them a lot. I might even guess that you love them, if you’re capable of it.”

_I might even guess that you love them_

_Guess that you love them_

_You love them_

“But I’ve been surprised by stranger things.” She uncrossed her arms, leaning back on her heels to give him a measured look before it melted into something almost resembling vulnerability. It was easy to forget that she too, was still only a child. Thirteen years old and already a beacon of hope and grace. She should be undergoing awkward haircuts and discovering who she was as a person, not forced to suddenly become an adult the world relied on. Oracle or not. “So I’m going to go out on a wing here and trust you with them. Take good care of them for me, will you?”

It took him several long moments before Ardyn could gather his composure, and then he was bowing theratricaly. “As you wish, m’lady.”

She snorted. “I can see why Noct likes you so.”

And with that, Lunafreya of House Nox Fleuret, first of her name and next in line for becoming the Oracle, turned on her heel and went back to joking around with Noctis and Prompto.

Ardyn took a deep breath, the words _You love them_ still reverberating around in his head, and followed after her.

  


“Is Mister Ardyn okay?” Prompto asked, leaning into Noctis’ space heavily as they both stared at Ardyn.

“I don’t know.” Noctis bit on his fingernail, eyeing the dazed look in Ardyn’s eyes. “But I don’t like it.”

Prompto shook his head. “Me neither. Maybe we should give him a tart?” Even as he said this, he looked mournfully at the tart in his hand like he didn’t _really_ want to release it.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m sure he’ll perk up soon, Luna must have given him a good talking too.”

It definitely seemed that way, if the subtly pleased aura Luna was giving off was any indicator.

The four of them were still in the kitchen, though Luna kept hinting that they should probably move rooms soon, since her sleep spells only lasted for around an hour before her unsuspecting target woke up.

He was a little scared to ask how she knew that.

“The Chancellor is fine, isn’t he?” Luna asked with a sickenly sweet smile.

Ardyn flinched and gave her a mildly terrified look out of the corner of his eye. “Yes,” He cleared his throat. “Quite fine.”

Prompto gaped. “What did Lady Luna _do_ to him?”

“She has that effect on people, it’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Noctis offered out his hand for a high five. Luna slapped her palm against his without once tearing her gaze away from Ardyn.

Score: Luna 1, Ardyn 0.

“Can I be her when I’m grown up?” Prompto whispered, awed beyond measure.

The sleeping cook on the ground murmured.

Luna finally ripped her gaze away from Ardyn to gift Prompto a blinding smile. “You can be whatever you want to be, Prompto.”

Prompto went pink again, his mouth dropping open slightly before he hastily shut it and averted his eyes. Noctis thought he heard him whisper ‘why is everyone so pretty’, but eh, maybe it was just his imagination.

Noctis opened his mouth to say something, but then the cook sat up with a loud gasp, his gaze immediately fixing on Luna and himself. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but was muffled by Luna’s loud screech as she lobbed another sleep spell at him.

All three of them glanced at her, then the once again unconscious guard, them at her again, before Ardyn muttered something and a dark mist fogged over the cook’s features.

He shrugged when all of their stares transferred to him instead. “Just simply making sure the enemy stays down for longer, ‘tis all.”

There was a beat of silence, only interrupted when Noctis clapped his hands together nervously. “Well, we should probably be going now!” His voice cracked at the end awkwardly, and great, now all three of them were staring at _him_.

This is awkward.

But Prompto nodded his head, because _one_ person in this friendship had his back. “Yeahhh, we should probably do that. Like now.”

All of them glanced back over to the doubly unconscious cook before averting their eyes.

“Where do you wanna go?” Noctis clumsily got to his feet, waving away the three sets of hands that tried to help him with a glare. His legs were shaky, not paralyzed! Anymore, at least. “Wanna go steal some stuff?”

He thought he heard Ardyn murmur an ‘oh no’ as Prompto and Luna started pumping their fists and chanting eerily in sync, “Steal stuff! Steal stuff!”

Ardyn gave Noctis a despondent look. “What have you done?”

Noctis shrugged, an evil smirk forming on his face. “Sometimes, you just have to make the world burn.”

“I think the saying is ‘watch the world burn’ actually - ”

“Shut it!”

  


So.

Looked like they’re actually stealing stuff.

Who knew.

“Isn’t this illegal?” Ardyn asked them hypothetically, poking the lavish pillow on the ornate couch. “Aren’t you all too young to be living a life of crime?”

Prompto’s eyes practically sparkled at the thought. “You mean,” He whispered, shaking in excitement. “We can be _pirates_.”

Luna stomped one pristine boot on the couch, leaning her forearm on her knee while her other hand went to the top of her head as if to hold the brim of a hat. “Captain Luna is here to take your crowns and your actual crown!”

Noctis waddled over to where Ardyn was gingerly sitting on the old royal sitting room’s fancy couch and stole his hat, only to just hand it over to Luna with a shared giggle.

Luna adjusted the oversized hat and went back to playing pretend. “If ya matey want the Princess, you’ll have to go through me first!”

Prompto tilted his head. “Who’s the Princess?”

Both of them stared at each other for a long moment, before slowly turning to stare at him with the same shit-eating grin.

“No,” Noctis waved his hands frantically. “No no, I’m a boy! I’m not a Princess, I’m a Prince actually we know this -“

They just ignored him. Jerks.

“Don’t worry Princess,” Prompto called out as Luna led him away to the couch, deeming it the dragon’s lair. “I’ll save you, I promise!”

(“Who’s the dragon?” Ardyn asked, bemused.

Luna stared at him with a dead expression. “You.” She said bluntly, before sitting Noctis down next to him.)

“Now we will battle to the death!” Prompto declared, having somehow in the time Noctis was distracted moved one of Ardyn’s scarves to cover his hair, and the other around his mouth. “For the right of the Princess’ hand.”

(“I didn’t agree to this!” Noctis screeched, panicked. “I’m too young to get married, I don’t want to end up like Uncle Clarus!”

Ardyn just patted his head.)

“Too bad for you, young knight.” Luna crowed, going to her hip as if to grab a sword, but hesitated when her hand met air.

Noctis sighed and ruffled through his armiger. He tossed Luna his Radiant Sword that Carbuncle gifted him in his dreamworld, and Prompto got Ragnarok, which he wielded with a half insane grin.

(“What’s wrong with the King’s Shield?”

“He said being married made him bald. I wouldn’t look good bald, my hair is like seventy percent of my cuteness. I need that cuteness Papa, it’s like gil with old people.”)

“Are you certain it is a good idea to give an actual assassin a sword?” Ardyn asked, raising one eyebrow as Prompto tested the weight before yelling “En garde!” and launching himself at Luna.

Noctis shrugged, curling up into Ardyn’s side as he watched Luna defend, her own sword held like a rapier with one hand being left to balance herself. Ardyn didn’t even look at him as he raised his trench-coat, tucking it around Noctis’ side and letting him cuddle into the fancy schmancy shirt underneath. It’s like the more layers he pulls back of Ardyn’s clothes, the older in time they go.

He shuddered. God, what if Ardyn was wearing those weird jewelry they used to wear in ancient Solheim? Those were _ugly_.

Luna and Prompto were full out dueling, and really getting into it. Prompto tripped her when she was distracted, Luna sent a burst of Holy magic to momentarily blind him. Luna elbowed him in the ribs, Prompto yanked on her hair.

But the entire time they were laughing.

And Noctis didn’t even feel jealous, he mused to himself as Ardyn rested his stubbly cheek on the top of his head. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and the familiar warmth and unshaved chin made him remember the days where his dad had time for him, without the stress lines or the limp in his step.

And Ardyn wasn’t his dad. He wasn’t. But as Noctis snuggled closer, giggling as Luna and Prompto roughhoused (if a tad violently), Ardyn wasn’t that bad of a father figure anyhow.

Not his dad, but maybe his papa.

What do you know.

Well, until Prompto tripped and sent Ragnarok flying into the wooden wall behind Luna’s frame, silencing the room as the wall gave an ominous click.

It shuddered once, twice, and then -

“A secret passageway!” The three of them squealed at once, scurrying to their feet to practically bolt into the dark hallway.

Ardyn just sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No guardians this time either, but I swear there’ll definitely be some next chapter, and that things pick up a little in pace! 
> 
> Honestly I don’t think this is my best work (or funniest) but I’m trying? I’m absense of my lack of funny bone, I’m trying to make this as fluffy as humanly possible 
> 
> BUT YES, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOCTIS LUCIS CAELUM I LOVE YOU

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna be honest, was a little inspired by JosephineSilver "The most unlikely of heros". I just really like lore expansion and little kids saving the world. You can read the fic here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10040561  
> Also: I am not paralyzied and have never struggled with that, but I do know the self esteem issues that come from mobility problems. Also, if you think Noctis trusted Prompto so easily, remember this is an incredibly sheltered kid suffering from an awful case of loneliness. Of course he's gullible and willing to do to keep said friend. Good thing Prompto's a good bean


End file.
